By DAN BISER
Sports Editor

LAKE WACCAMAW - In the 80-plus years that high-school basketball has been played in Columbus County, there have been numerous fantastic finishes.

The kind of finishes that can stop a heart. The kind that brings the victors and their backers to the floor in a mob while leaving the opponents staring in disbelief.

One more of those big finishes was added to the list Friday night in a battle of cross-county 1A boys rivals at the East Columbus High gym.

Senior Chaz Everette put up a 25-footer that nudged off the backboard and fell through the net at the final buzzer to lift the visiting West Columbus Vikings to a 64-62 victory over the host East Columbus Gators.

“Chaz was one of the guys we wanted to take the last shot, but we were hoping he would be closer to the basket when he got it off,” said veteran Viking coach Michael Powell. “East Columbus had it defended well, but fortunately Chaz still got a good look and hit it. He’s that kind of player.”

East Columbus had taken a 62-61 lead moments earlier when Gator center Jermaine Waddell alertly picked up a loose ball and put it in for a lay-up with 14 seconds left. West Columbus called a time-out to set up the final shot with eight seconds left.

The Vikings inbounded the ball to Mikey Bilal, the Vikings other starting sharpshooter. Bilal moved the ball around the top of the key and took a look at the basket before passing the ball off to Everette with about three seconds left. Everette dribbled to his left, executed a pump fake and put up the winning shot.

“I knew when I released it that it was going in,” said Everette, who was stampeded by teammates and fans in the post-game bedlam. “I had that feeling in my wrist … it felt good.”

ECHS coach Clarence Ganus, whose squad was playing its third game of the week, said the loss was disappointing, but that it was “a big effort by both teams.

“It came down to who had the last shot, and unfortunately for us, they made it,” Ganus said. “This would have been a big win for us, but we know we gave it a real good shot tonight. “

It was a night of spurts for both teams. Both got off the very slow starts as East Columbus didn’t score its first field goal until midway through the first quarter and West Columbus didn’t hit its first field goal until there were just over two minutes left in the period.

Both teams had to overcome deficits of 10 points.

West Columbus overcame an early East Columbus lead to hold a 34-30 halftime lead. East Columbus battled back to outscore the Vikings 23-9 in the third quarter, and West Columbus once again answered with some strong 3-point shooting.

“It was game of spurts and momentum changes,” Coach Powell said. “Both teams played hard.”

Everette led Viking scorers with 13 points, followed by Quintez Ward with 11 and Bilal with 10 as they put their record at 3-1.

East Columbus got 17 points by Jerry Moore and 14 by Waddell as the Gator record slipped to 4-2.

The East Columbus girls squad gained its second straight win by defeating the Lady Vikings 53-30. Taquanna Bress continued her torrid scoring pace with 17 points while Jasmine Young followed with 13.

T.T. Bennett, who played a big role for the ECHS girls last season, played for the first time this season while contributing seven points.

Samantha Jackson had seven points for West Columbus, which slipped to 1-3.

GIRLS GAME

WEST COLUMBUS (30): Memory 2, Thompson 6, Bradford 6, Ward 6, Jackson 7, Godwin 3.

EAST COLUMBUS (53): Bress 17, Young 13, Moore 3, Jacobs 4, Bracey 3, Bennett 7, Edwards 4, Ellis 2.

BOYS GAME

WEST COLUMBUS (64): Bilal 10, Smith 3, Everette 13, Snowten 4, Leggett 6, Hayes 6, Weaver 2, Cisneros 7, Johnson 2.

EAST COLUMBUS (62) Clark 5, Freeman 9, Waddell 14, Patrick 12, Moore 17, Ganus 3, Campbell 2.