at South Brunswick
BOILING SPRING LAKES – The Waccamaw Conference basketball champion East Columbus Gators rang up 24 points to take a 58-51 victory and hold off a big upset bid by the host South Brunswick Cougars.
In the girls game, East Columbus secured a conference runnerup finish by defeating the Lady Cougars 69-39.
It was a struggle for much of the night for Coach Mark Bridgers’ Gator boys squad as it managed a 23-22 halftime lead and then trailed 35-34 after three quarters.
B.J. Patrick scored 22 points to lead the East Columbus effort and Jerry Moore scored 17. Cameron Spears followed with 11 points as the Gators garnered their 14th straight win. East Columbus is 11-0 in conference play and 16-5 overall.
Anthony Gilbert’s 21 points set the paces for South Brunswick while Montrel Miller had 10.
South Brunswick, which was coming off back-to-back wins over North Brunswick and South Columbus, fell to 3-8 in conference and 4-18 overall.
The East Columbus girls used a balanced scoring attack in running to a 36-10 halftime lead.
Felicia Allen scored 16 points and Angelica Beard scored 15 for Coach Karlyn Stephens’ Lady Gators, who improved to 8-3 in conference and 16-5 overall. T.T.Bennett added 10 points.
Talisha Green had 11 points for South Brunswick, followed by Samantha Graham with 10. The Lady Cougars have a 3-8 record in conference play.
East Columbus, which will host next week’s Waccamaw Conference Tournament, will close out its regular-season Friday when it entertains Trask.
GIRLS GAME
| E. Columbus | 17 | 19 | 15 | 18 | - | 69 | |
| S. Brunswick | 5 | 5 | 10 | 19 | - | 39 |
EAST COLUMBUS (69): Moore 15, Powell 16, Bress 2, Young 6, Bennett 10, Allen 16, Malpass 5, Lennon 7, Bryant 2.
SOUTH BRUNSWICK (39): Adams 2, Gainey 2, Deveney 9, Green 11, Ferguson 5, Ingram 10.
BOYS GAME
| E. Columbus | 14 | 9 | 11 | 24 | - | 58 | |
| S. Brunswick | 11 | 11 | 13 | 16 | - | 51 |
EAST COLUMBUS (58): Moore 17, Patrick 22, Hampton 1, Spears 11, Graham 2, Baldwin 5.
SOUTH BRUNSWICK (51): Frees 2, Anderson 2, Whitman 5, Gilbert 21, Moore 4, Matt Miller 4, Montrel Miller 10. Hines 3.