for Southeastern
Tournament crown
FAIRMONT – The West Columbus Vikings made history Friday night, becoming the first WCHS boys basketball team to win a conference tournament championship in 28 years.
Behind the play of senior center Willie Smith and junior guard Chaz Everette, the Vikings held off the regular-season champion Fairmont Golden Tornadoes 67-62 to win the Southeastern 1A-2A Conference Tournament title at the Fairmont gym.
“This is big,” said veteran Viking boys coach Michael Powell, whose team put its season record at 22-3. “It’s been a long time since we’ve done well in a conference tournament … I think the last time we even made it to the finals was 1996 … so coming away with this one is special.”
West Columbus, which had finished runner-up to Fairmont in the regular season standings, extended its current winning streak to 11 game while taking its second win in three meetings with the Golden Tornadoes.
“We have good kids,” Powell said. “They work hard in practice and play hard on game nights. They do a great job of pulling together and helping each other out. It has been a very good situation all season.”
The Vikings will carry a No. 1 bracket seeding into this week’s state 1A playoffs.
Willie Smith scored 18 points and had 11 rebounds while Everette pulled his second straight triple-double with 16 points, 14 steals and 11 rebounds. The Vikings led 29-21 at the half and carried a 51-41 lead into the final quarter. Mikey Bilal added 11 points, including the only WCHS 3-point goal of the night.
Fairmont, now with a 22-4 record and carrying the conference’s top 2A playoff seed, was led by Darrius Taylor’s 20 points and Randall Bristow’s 19. Thomas Townsend had 13. It was the Tornadoes’ first homecourt loss this season.
The last WCHS conference boys tournament championship came in 1978 when a controversial basket at the buzzer by Kenny Bowen lifted Coach Hubert McCleney’s Vikings to a 70-69 victory over regular-season champ East Bladen for the Three Rivers 3A Conference Tournament title at the WCHS gym.
| W. Columbus | 10 | 19 | 22 | 16 | - | 67 | |
| Fairmont | 7 | 14 | 20 | 21 | - | 62 |
WEST COLUMBUS (67): W. Smith 18, Everette 16, Bilal 11, Hayes 5, Andrews 4, Hamilton 4, Leggett 4, De La Rosa 5.
FAIRMONT (62): Taylor 20, Bristow 19, Thompson 13, Rogers 8, Mitchell 4, Johnson 2, Chavis 3.