By DAN BISER
Sports Editor

With just a little over three weeks remaining in regular season play, it appears that the West Columbus Vikings and East Columbus Gators are preparing for solid returns to the state 1A boys basketball playoffs.

“There’s still a good ways to go before we can start thinking about the playoffs, but we feel like we’re working pretty well in that direction,” said veteran West Columbus head coach Michael Powell, whose Vikings are boasting a 11-2 record and hold down a strong second-place spot in the Southeastern 1A-2A Conference standings. “There’s always room for improvement, and our kids realize that. We don’t ever try to look past the next game on the schedule.”

“Our kids are excited and working hard,” said first-year ECHS head coach Clarence Ganus, whose Gators are 14-3 and leading the Waccamaw 1A-2A Conference with a 5-0 record. “The guys who played on the team last year remember the disappointment of losing out like they did in the playoffs, and that has made them want to be back even more this year.”

The Gators won the 2006 Waccamaw Conference regular-season and tournament championships, but were upended by Spring Creek in a big upset of the sectional semi-finals at Kenansville’s Memorial Auditorium. It was final game for Gator head coach Mark Bridgers, who was elevated to the ECHS principal position soon after. Ganus, a former UNC-Pembroke star, who had held several head coaching positions, including a tenure at Southeastern Community College, was hired to keep the Gator hoop fortunes at a high level.

Powell, now in his 19th season as Viking head coach, has guided his squad to a combined record of 93 wins and 29 losses since the start of the 2002-03 season.

Last season, the WCHS boys team finished runnerup to Fairmont in the Southeastern Conference regular-season race, but bounced back to topple the Fairmont team in the conference tournament championship game. The Vikings advanced to the 1A sectional finals where they lost to eventual state champion Wallace-Rose Hill, and closed out with a 23-4 record.

“As hard as we played against (Wallace-Rose Hill), we just couldn’t stop them when we had to,” Powell said following his team’s 90-78 loss to WRH In the sectional final played at Kenansville.

Powell said at that time that the pain of the sectional loss could be used as a strong motivator for this year’s team.

The Vikings are led by two of the area’s top perimeter players in Chaz Everette and Mikey Bilal. Both are outstanding shooters from beyond the arc, and both are standout defenders. It is not uncommon for Everette to come away with a night of 10 steals or more.

Everette, who has recorded several triple-double performances in his three years as a Viking starter., was named the 2006 Columbus County Player of the Year.

Powell has plenty of depth this season with several players off the bench often gaining as much or more playing time than the starters.
“We’re a pretty good job, rotating people in,” Powell said

Travis Leggett, Cortney Hayes, Quintez Ward, Stacy Snowten, Justin Johnson, Tyrale George and Chris Smith all see extensive playing time along with 6-foot-11 center Mario Cisneros, the tallest player in the program’s history.

When Cisneros arrived last year as an exchange student from Mexico, he was described by Powell as “a work in progress.” Then a couple of weeks into the season, Cisneros broke his right ankle in a game at Whiteville and missed the rest of his junior season.

While Cisneros has had to work to get his game in line with the Vikings’ up-tempo type play, his playing time and production has continued to increase.

The biggest feather in the Vikings’ cap so far is that they have handed East Columbus two of is three losses thus far. One of those came on a three-point shot from 25-feet by Everette as the buzzer sounded.

Like West Columbus, East Columbus possesses a pair of strong perimeter players in seniors Jerry Moore and B.J. Patrick. Both are strong 3-point shooters and both have the ability to drive to the basket.

Jermaine Waddell and Jim Freeman give the Gators a strong and active inside game. Waddell provides size and consistency while Freeman brings on a flair of excitement with his leaping and dunking abilities.

K.C. Clark, C.J. Ganus,Anthony Fields, Michael Campbell are also playing major roles for the Gators.

Because of conference realignment last year, West Columbus and East Columbus no longer compete in the same conference and both are competing at the 1A level after long stretches in 2A.

It they were to meet again this season, it would likely be at the regional level.

Area basketball action took a night off on Tuesday due to exams, but it will heat up again quickly on Friday.

East Columbus will be playing host to a Whiteville team that is experiencing its roughest season in more than 25 years. The Wolfpack, now 3-10, broke a six-game losing streak last Friday with a 75-73 home victory over Waccamaw Conference rival North Brunswick.

“Whiteville has had a pretty tough season but you can’t ever take them lightly,” said Ganus, whose team downed the Wolfpack 63-54 in their initial meeting in December. “Getting the big win last week I’m sure did a lot of their confidence.”

West Columbus, whose only Southeastern loss Conference loss to date came against West Bladen, which is ranked seventh among state 2A teams.

On Friday, the Vikings will travel to take on a Fairmont team that is taking on some rebuilding after gaining last year’s Southeastern regular-season title.

“Anytime you go to Fairmont, you had better be ready to play your best game,” Coach Powell said. “There’s nothing easy in this conference.”