By DAN BISER
Sports Editor

VINEGAR HILL – The South Columbus Stallions came within a point of placing all five starters in the double scoring column Monday night as they opened their 2006-07 basketball season with a 68-60 victory over the visiting South Robeson Mustangs.

Bryant Edwards and Frederick Bryant each scored 18 points for Coach Nathan Faulk’s Stallions, who led by as much as 20 points in the third quarter before holding off a late Mustang rally.

Daniel Keel had 11 points and James Vereen tallied 10 for South Columbus. Derrick Clay, the top returning scorer from last season, finished with nine.

South Columbus led off the second quarter with a 13-2 run that led to a 30-18 halftime advantage.

“It was a pretty good job for the first game of the year,” Faulk said. “South Robeson made a strong run at us in the fourth quarter, but our kids finished out well.

“We need to do a better job of taking care of the ball,” Faulk added. “We had too many turnovers and missed some easy shots, but we can correct that.”

Faulk is now in his third season of rebuilding the SCHS boys basketball program. The Stallions finished 7-15 last year after going 1-21 in 2004-05

Corey Thompson led South Robeson scorers with 17 points, followed by Tim Belin with 13.

In the girls game, South Robeson got a strong 3-point shooting effort by N. Oxendine as the Lady Mustangs held on for a 57-54 win.

South Columbus led 9-6 after one quarter before Oxendine nailed four 3-pointers in the second quarter for a 26-19 SR lead at the half. Oxendine had five 3-point goals for the night and finished with a game-high 20 points. S. Robinson scored 15 points and S. McEachern tallied 14 for South Robeson.

Amanda Dowe had 16 points to lead South Columbus and Yolanda McCoy scored 12.

“Our girls competed well,” said SCHS coach Brett Burroughs. “We need to become more consistent and we need to improve our ball handling skills, but I feel like we gave it a pretty good shot tonight.”

South Columbus traveled to Rowland Wednesday night for a rematch with South Robeson (see scores in A-Section) and will play host to North Myrtle Beach on Friday.

GIRLS GAME

SOUTH ROBESON (57): Douglas 2, McEachern 14, Jones 2 Oxendine 20, Williams 4, Robinson 15.

SOUTH COLUMBUS (54): Strickland 9, Dowe 16, Smith, 3, Williams 6, Tisdale 7, Freeman 1, McCoy 12.

BOYS GAME

SOUTH ROBESON (60): Bethea 8, Leach 3, Belin 13, Thompson 17, Hunt 7, Hollman 8, Williams 2, Oxendine 2.

SOUTH COLUMBUS (68): Edwards 18, J. Vereen 10, Clay 9, Bryant 18, Keel 11, R. Vereen 2.