FAIRMONT – Trailing by nine points early in the third quarter Friday night, the West Columbus Vikings exploded on a 23-2 run that led to a 79-67 victory over longtime rival Fairmont in a Southeastern 1A-2A Conference basketball victory.
The senior duo of Chaz Everette and Mikey Bilal each scored 22 points to pace the Vikings as they overcame an early upset bid by the host Golden Tornado squad. Fairmont led 37-36 at the half and got off to a strong start in the third quarter before Coach Michael Powell’s WCHS squad staged its fierce run to take control of the game and run its conference record to 6-1. It was the Vikings’ second win over the Tornadoes this season.
West Columbus, now 12-2 for the season, will play host to Southeastern Conference leader West Bladen Tuesday night. A win by the Vikings would put West Columbus and West Bladen in a tie for first place. West Bladen is 6-0 in the conference, carrying a 14-game winning streak and ranked seventh among the state’s 2A teams.
Quintez Ward and Stacy Snowten scored 13 and 12 points respectively in the Fairmont victory. Bilal connected for four 3-point shots while Ward hit three. Everette came up with 12 steals for the Vikings.
Rod Parker and Dionta Page led Fairmont scorers with 17 points each.
Fairmont won the girls game 72-24.
Monique Floyd scored 24 points and Shontay Powell had 16 for Fairmont.
Alex Ward was high scorer for the West Columbus girls squad with seven points.
The WCHS girls slipped to 0-6 in conference and 1-13 overall.
BOYS GAME
| W. Columbus |
17
|
19
|
28
|
20
|
-
|
79
|
| Fairmont |
16
|
21
|
13
|
17
|
-
|
67
|
WEST COLUMBUS (79): Bilal 22, Everette 22, Ward 13, Snowten 12, Smith 6, J Johnson 2, Cisneros 2.
FAIRMONT (67): Parker 17, Page 17, Buie 9, Brown 7, Poole 5, Hudson 5.
