By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
The Southeast Alamance boys’ basketball team had to wait an extra day to secure the program’s first conference championship.
The Stallions defeated visiting Williams 83-57 on Saturday night with first place at stake in the Mid-Carolina Conference, with that result coming less than 23 hours after they sustained their only regular-season league defeat.
“I didn’t let (Friday) night bother me,” Southeast forward Donnie Fairley said. “Had to fix it.”
The Stallions (19-4 overall, 13-1 Mid-Carolina Conference), representing the third-year school, gained the outright regular-season title. If Williams (18-4, 11-3) had won, the Bulldogs would have shared first place.
Southeast’s home loss Friday night to Eastern Alamance, which finished in a second-place tie with Williams, meant the race for first place would come down to the regular-season finale between the Stallions and Bulldogs.
“I think the biggest thing is urgency,” Southeast coach Bo Williamson said. “We showed some maturity. A lot of times, it can go the other direction.”
Davian Edwards poured in 33 points for the Stallions, with teammates James Kenan with 18 and Fairley with 14.
“Too much stuff going on (Friday) night,” Edwards said of distractions. “We were too much in the moment. . . We needed to get right back at it. We needed every loose ball.”
Southeast had a solid start, building a nine-point lead by late in the second quarter. The Stallions were up 48-34 through three quarters and soon built the advantage to 61-37.
Williams guard Bubba Sims, back in the gym where he played home games the two previous seasons, finished with 35 points. That total included 13 in the first half and 16 in the fourth quarter. Bulldogs standout Colby Elliott was held to five points.
There was an on-court confrontation during the postgame handshake line with players from both teams being pulled away from the fray as school administrators and security personnel rushed to break up the incident.
Both teams will open Mid-Carolina Conference Tournament play with quarterfinal home games Wednesday night.
