By DAN BISER

CERRO GORDO – The West Columbus Viking boys basketball team is finding out quickly what life in the new Southeastern 1A-2A Conference is all about.

Although they have a 9-2 season record, their record in conference play is 1-2 including a 90-84 overtime loss to the visiting East Bladen Eagles Friday night. East Bladen rallied from a 14-point halftime deficit to overtake the Vikings.

“It’s going to be a battle every night out in this league,” said WCHS coach Michael Powell following Friday’s loss. “This is a tough loss for our team but I’m still pleased with the effort. We made some mistakes and didn’t rebound real well in the second half but East Bladen played a very strong second half. Both teams played hard.

“We can’t let this loss get us down,” said Powell. “Hopefully, we can learn from it and be more prepared for the rest of our schedule.”

East Bladen’s Mike Smith had a huge night, scoring 29 points and propelling the Eagles’ second-half comeback.

Josh Rose scored 20 for East Bladen and Rayshon Hairston came off the bench to score 14 points and provide some strong rebounding. Chanon Lewis added 11 points

“I told our guys at halftime that we had to be a lot more aggressive and to stop letting them beat us down the floor,” said EBHS coach Curtis Moss, whose Eagles upped their conference record at 3-1. “We picked it up in the second half and started making things go our way. We felt good about taking it into overtime.”

Zack Andrews scored 19 points for West Columbus, which led by as much as 17 in the first half. Willie Smith and Mikey Bilal each scored 15, followed by Chaz Everette with 12 and Alberto De La Rosa with 11.

The overtime period belonged to East Bladen as it went on a 10-0 run in the first two minutes of the period and did not let the advantage drop below five after that.

“We lost to West Bladen in overtime last Tuesday so we felt that we really had to have this one,” Coach Moss said. “This is a big conference road win for our program but we still have to get better.

East Bladen dominated the girls game 69-27 behind Dorothy Corbett’s 23 points.
Brittany Parker scored 10 for West Columbus.

GIRLS GAME

EAST BLADEN (64): McKenzie 1, Powell 6, McKoy 2, Woodruff 4, Hall 2, Kemp 3, K. Davis 11, Mason 2, Patterson 5, J. Davis 3, Corbett 23

WEST COLUMBUS (27): Faulk 6, Baker 6, Thompson 2, Ward 2, Parker 10.

BOYS GAME

EAST BLADEN (90): Lancaster 3, McKoy 6, Bryant 2, Smith 29. Washington 1, Rose 20, Hairston 14, Franklin 2, Lewis 11.

WEST COLUMBUS (84): Everette 12, Bilal 15, C. Smith 7, De La Rosa 11, Leggett 4, Andrews 19, W. Smith 15.