FAIRMONT — Adding Xavier Johnson to the fold on a Fairmont team that had already won 10 of its first 13 games this season should make the Golden Tornadoes that much better the rest of the season.

In the junior guard’s season debut Friday against St. Pauls, his impact was immediate.

Johnson scored 15 points to help boost the Golden Tornadoes in an 80-58 win over their cross-county foes.

“He was a big help coming in tonight,” Fairmont coach Montrell McNair said. “He just made things a lot easier. We went to him on the bench and the team just kept playing well once he came in. We needed that boost from him coming off the bench; our bench scoring was really leading us tonight. And defensively, he’s going to be another option for us moving forward.”

Johnson, last season’s Robeson County Underclassman of the Year, scored six points in the first half, helping build a 37-25 halftime lead for the Golden Tornadoes (11-3, 2-0 Southeastern Athletic Conference). He then had three baskets in the third quarter as Fairmont went on a run to nearly double its lead.

“It felt good to be out there with my boys again. It felt like love out there on the court,” Johnson said. “It took time for me to find my game, because at first I couldn’t find my game. But between third quarter and fourth, that’s when I found my game.”

Issac McKellar hit two of Fairmont’s first three baskets of the second half, propelling a 13-2 run that took the Tornadoes’ lead to 50-27 with 3:36 left in the period.

“We just kind of came out in a lull defensively, and not getting back and they got some easy points going downhill,” St. Pauls coach Corey Thompson said. “Transition defense was a big thing we talked about, and we didn’t sprint back with the intensity like we should have. But that’s kind of been our plague. I thought this game we did a very good job, we shot 37 free throws, show a good percentage from the free-throw line, but the turnovers is what killed us.”

“A team like St. Pauls, they fight hard for everything, the 50-50 balls, the loose balls, the rebounds,” McNair said. “They fight so hard, you want to get a little cushion if you can, because you know they’re going to make a run at some point. And they don’t let it stop them, so you want to get as big a lead as possible playing a team like that. That run that we went on was really good as far as keeping them at bay.”

St. Pauls (7-9, 0-2 Southeastern) outscored Fairmont 15-6 over the next 2 1/2 minutes to cut the lead to 56-42, with Tyson Thompson scoring nine points in the span. Fairmont took a 59-44 lead to the fourth; six fourth-quarter points from Landon Cummings helped the Golden Tornadoes maintain their separation, with the Bulldogs never getting closer than a 14-point margin over the final stanza.

“It was good for us to talk to each other and come out as a team and play together and win the game,” Johnson said. “Sometimes you can’t win a game by yourself. There’s five players on the court for a reason, for y’all to play together as a team and succeed. That’s one bigger part we had tonight was to play together, and we looked for each other.”

Fairmont led 20-12 at the end of the first quarter behind six points from Cummings and five points each from Johnson and Josiah Billings in the period. St. Pauls cut the lead to 20-16 after a Jamarcus Smith putback with 7:09 left in the half before Fairmont used a 13-4 run to take a 33-20 lead with 2:49 on the second-quarter clock. The teams exchanged scores the rest of the half, leading to the Golden Tornadoes’ 12-point intermission advantage.

Cummings led Fairmont with 18 points and had six rebounds. McKellar scored 13 points, Billings had nine points and nine rebounds and Naishon Davis scored six points with six rebounds.

Tyson Thompson scored 14 points with eight rebounds for the Bulldogs, while Jamarcus Smith continued a recent career-best stretch with 13 points and six rebounds. Tykeem Oxendine scored 10 points.

“(Smith) is just an energy guy; he’s going to give you his all,” Corey Thompson said. “He’s going to play hard, and I think a lot of times for him, he finds himself on the end of getting easy buckets and doing good things because he plays with so much tenacity.”

Fairmont’s 80-point output was its second best of the season and its fourth time scoring 77 points or more.

“It’s always good to have a team that can put the ball in the hole,” McNair said. “We do pride ourselves on defense, but I always tell them, you do have to make some baskets also. I think with the chemistry that we have, with some of the older players that we have, they’ve been doing a much better job of running our offense and taking the shots that’s given to them instead of forcing shots.”

Fairmont travels to play at Red Springs Tuesday; St. Pauls is at West Bladen.

Sampson, Rams defeat Douglas Byrd

A big third quarter propelled both a victory by the Purnell Swett boys basketball team and a 30-point night by sophomore guard Collin Sampson in Friday’s 66-53 United-8 conference win over Douglas Byrd.

Purnell Swett (3-9, 1-4 United-8) outscored Douglas Byrd (0-14, 0-5 United-8) in the third quarter 24-9, turning a 33-30 halftime lead into a 57-39 advantage at the end of the third quarter. Sampson scored 14 of his 30 points in the period.

The Eagles led 12-8 after the first quarter before the Rams outscored them 25-18 in the second quarter to take their halftime lead.

Sampson had three steals to go along with his 30-point performance. Tim Locklear had 14 points with four rebounds and six steals, Aiden Clewis netted six points and Zach Harris grabbed six rebounds for the Rams.

Darnell Hinson scored 15 points for Douglas Byrd, Tydus Whitehead had 12 points and Tavon Alexander added nine. The Eagles recorded their 72nd straight loss.

Purnell Swett plays Lumberton at home Tuesday.

Porter, Red Springs wins at Clinton

Behind a 30-point performance from senior guard Kaedon Porter, the Red Springs boys basketball team won its second game in three days with a 58-31 Southeastern Athletic Conference victory at Clinton Friday.

After a 6-6 tie through one quarter, Red Springs (7-9, 2-0 Southeastern) held a 23-9 lead at halftime after outscoring Clinton (6-5, 0-2 Southeastern) 17-3 in the second quarter. The Red Devils led 38-18 at the end of the third quarter.

Porter’s stellar night included five made 3-pointers. Behind him, Makhi Arthur scored 12 points for the Red Devils.

Camden Davis led Clinton with eight points.

The Red Devils host Fairmont on Tuesday.