FAIRMONT — Two baskets in the first 31 seconds of the fourth quarter extended a five-point West Bladen lead to nine during Tuesday’s pivotal Southeastern Athletic Conference game at Fairmont, with the Knights appearing poised to complete a season sweep of the Golden Tornadoes and clinch the conference title.

But West Bladen didn’t score another point.

An exceptional fourth-quarter defensive effort allowed Fairmont to come from behind, catch and surpass West Bladen to earn a 47-40 win — which pulls the Golden Tornadoes even in the bigger picture too, with the teams now tied atop the conference standings.

“We just went back to practice this, all this week we were preparing,” Fairmont junior guard Landon Cummings said. “We just remember what they did to us at West Bladen so that left a bad taste in our mouth. We just wanted to beat them here.”

In holding the Knights scoreless for the last 7:29, Fairmont (18-4, 8-1 Southeastern) closed the game on a 16-0 run, turning a 40-31 deficit into the seven-point victory.

“I just told our guys, stay locked in, stay focused, contain, we don’t have to do a lot of gambling,” Fairmont coach Montrell McNair said. “At that point we weren’t in a lot of foul trouble so we could be a little bit more aggressive — and it paid off for us. And the second thing that helped us out the most, you’ve got to finish out defense with a good rebound. We did a good job of team rebounding, and Josiah (Billings) was really big for us tonight. He had 15, and it looked like he had 30. He was going for everything.”

Cummings hit a two of the first three baskets of the Fairmont run and added a free throw with 5:38 left that got Fairmont within two at 40-38. Josiah Billings scored a layup to tie the game with 3:38 left before Issac McKellar hit a 12-foot jumper off the bank to give Fairmont a 42-40 lead at the 2:32 mark.

“We had to play solid and pick up our man early, play aggressive, not try to get in foul trouble,” McKellar said.

McKellar added three free throws in the last 1:14 before a Cummings dunk off a Knights miss and Billings rebound on the other end put the exclamation point on the outcome with 23 seconds to go.

Even while playing its self-described aggressive defense, Fairmont was not called for a personal foul the entire fourth quarter.

“That’s a sign of us growing up,” McNair said. “I saw a lot of guys grow up tonight, and they played with more control and more focus than I’ve seen them play with this year. Because West Bladen’s good — they’re a good, solid, sound team. And we maintained them for the last (7 1/2) minutes, that’s a great accomplishment.”

Cummings scored 18 points with seven rebounds and McKellar had 15 points and seven rebounds for Fairmont.

“Those guys have been doing that all year,” McNair said. “Those are the guys we depend on to pull us out of a rough spot, whenever we have a rough time moving the basketball, scoring.”

Billings scored six points with 15 rebounds for Fairmont. Hezekiah Adams led West Bladen with 14 points and 10 rebounds and Chase Williams had 10 points with nine rebounds; Talik McCall scored nine for the Knights.

Fairmont’s win came after West Bladen (19-2, 8-1 Southeastern) won the first meeting between the teams 66-35 on Jan. 26 in Bladenboro.

“(In the first game), they made a strong run that didn’t stop, they kept going and kept playing when they started hitting baskets, and some calls didn’t go our way and we lost our composure and we never regained it,” McNair said. “Tonight, we regained our composure, because they got up on us by (16), and I felt like we tonight we regained our composure and finished out this game strong.”

Yet in the early going, it looked like Tuesday’s game might be more of the same. West Bladen jumped out to a 14-2 lead; after a pair of Cummings baskets, the Knights used another run of 13-4 to stretch the lead to 27-11 with 4:08 left in the first half.

“I never doubted that we could play with them, we just needed to do a better job of executing on the offensive end,” McNair said. “I just felt like we were rushing a little bit to start the game off and we needed to settle down a little bit more. You’re not going to get the first pass on West Bladen, so you’ve got to be a whole lot more patient.”

“We had to keep looking forward, can’t look back,’ Cummings said. “Whatever happened already happened, so we had to keep moving forward and hoop.”

Fairmont closed the half with a 10-0 run, sparked by three McKellar baskets, to close the Knights’ lead to 27-21 at halftime.

The Golden Tornadoes closed to a 31-29 gap after back-to-back Cummings layups at the 2:30 mark of the third quarter. West Bladen led 36-31 at the end of the period and 40-31 before its lengthy late dry spell.

Fairmont’s win means the Golden Tornadoes can clinch no worse than a share of the conference title with a win Friday at Clinton. West Bladen, which falls from solo first into a tie, hosts Red Springs Friday.

“That means a lot to the program because it’s been some years since we’ve done that,” McNair said. “Just to be in the conversation of winning the conference again feels so good, because I’ve been there before and I know what it feels like, and I just want these guys to know what it felt like because they’ve never accomplished this before.”

Lady Tornadoes earn 20th win

There was a time not all that long ago when the Fairmont girls basketball program had won 20 total games over its previous three seasons. After a 69-27 win over West Bladen Tuesday night, the Golden Tornadoes have now won 20 games in each of the last two campaigns.

“They’ve accomplished so much this year that I couldn’t put my hand on,” Fairmont coach Marcus Thompson said. “Just to see the growth over a period of time, it’s amazing.”

“It means a lot,” Golden Tornadoes senior forward Myasia Simms said. “We’ve just got to keep going and keep working hard.”

The milestone win for Fairmont (20-3, 8-1 Southeastern) came on the program’s senior night, with the girls program honoring its lone senior, Myasia Simms. She scored 13 points with eight rebounds and four blocks, hitting three 3-pointers on the night.

“I had to keep my head on. I had to keep going, keep working,” Myasia Simms said. “I’m glad I got to finish off my four years at Fairmont.”

“Myasia, she can shoot it, we just don’t put her in situations where she can shoot like that,” Thompson said. “She played hard tonight, and everybody played so hard tonight. I told them before the game, we’re playing for Myasia, because you only get one senior night. … The beauty of this is it’s really, legit, all about her, because she’s the only senior.”

Taniya Simms scored 24 points, including 17 in the first half, with 11 rebounds, five steals and three blocks for the Golden Tornadoes, while Miah Smith narrowly missed a triple-double with eight points, 10 assists and 10 steals. Niah Smith had 15 points with eight assists and eight steals and Zariyah Locklear scored eight points.

Kiara Lewis led West Bladen (4-14, 0-9 Southeastern) with 10 points and five rebounds; Natalee Sykes scored six points and Alina Chavez had five.

Fairmont led 20-5 in the first quarter behind 10 points from Taniya Simms and eight from Niah Smith. The Golden Tornadoes led 32-11 after a pair of Sykes triples for the Knights; Fairmont finished the half on a 12-2 run to lead 44-13 at halftime. The Golden Tornadoes extended the lead to 60-21 at the end of the third quarter.

Fairmont remains tied for first place with St. Pauls in the Southeastern standings; the Golden Tornadoes will clinch no worse than a share of the conference title with a win Friday at Clinton.