BLADENBORO — Many times, the days leading up to a state playoff team require a team to learn its opponent, with an out-of-area matchup on the horizon.

The Fairmont boys basketball team, though, won’t have too much new information to learn about its opponent ahead of Friday’s second-round 2A East Region matchup — they’ve already spent 64 minutes on the same court within the last five weeks.

The Golden Tornadoes and West Bladen meet for the third time this season at 7 p.m. Friday at Ken F. Cross Gymnasium in Bladenboro, with a third-round playoff appearance awaiting one team and the offseason awaiting the other.

“There’s a lot of familiarity with that team — with Coach (Travis) Pait in general, because we’ve been going against each other for a while now, so he’s familiar with me and I’m familiar with him,” Fairmont coach Montrell McNair said. “It’s going to be pretty good, I think it’s going to be one of the best games in the state.”

Third-seeded West Bladen (24-1) beat Fairmont 66-35 on Jan. 26 at home. Fairmont (20-5), the No. 14 seed, beat West Bladen 47-40 on Feb. 13. The teams shared the Southeastern Athletic Conference regular-season title; a conference tournament meeting didn’t come to fruition when St. Pauls upset Fairmont in the semifinals.

“We’re just trying to get prepared to go into a hostile environment and play, maintain. The last time we were there the result wasn’t too good; we’re just trying to go in with a different mindset this time,” McNair said. “The difference in those two games was we stayed focused throughout the whole game, we didn’t lose our focus, we continued to play together as a team, stay patient and it worked out for us late in the game. We did a better job executing down the stretch.”

Fairmont is the only team to officially beat West Bladen this season; an early-season on-court loss to Hoggard by the Knights ultimately became a win by forfeit.

The Knights feature three double-figure scorers, led by junior Chase Williams (17.1 points per game) in the post and junior Hezekiah Adams (12.0 points) and sophomore Jackson Pait (11.1 points) in the backcourt.

West Bladen is 13-0 at home this season, with 11 of the 13 wins coming by double digits and none closer than a five-point margin.

“They defend their home court well — they defend their home court better than we defend ours,” McNair said. “We’ve just got to come in there with a mindset of winning and not coming out with losses because of how they’ve played at home. Our goal is to go in there, win and advance.”

Fairmont advanced to the second round with a 60-47 win over No. 19 Granville Central on Tuesday; West Bladen topped No. 30 Eastern Wayne 57-44. The Golden Tornadoes are playing their first second-round playoff game since a fourth-round run in 2018; West Bladen last advanced to the second round in 2017.

The Fairmont-West Bladen winner will face the winner of No. 6 Heide Trask and No. 11 Martin County in the third round on Tuesday.

Sanderson at Lumberton boys

While Lumberton faces a comparatively lower-seeded team in its second-round matchup, the Pirates will be tested by a hot team when No. 24 Sanderson visits for a 7 p.m. matchup in the 4A East Region.

Sanderson (19-8) won the CAP-6 Conference tournament last week, beating Enloe Friday for the title, before a double-overtime 75-69 upset over ninth-seeded New Bern in the first round of the state playoffs. No. 8 Lumberton (19-9) advanced with a 56-49 win over No. 25 Hoggard Tuesday.

“Everybody knows right now is when you need to be playing your best basketball; they really are,” Lumberton coach Bryant Edwards said. “They’re hitting their stride, they’re shooting it well, they’re taking care of the ball. Hopefully we can get a little hot streak here too.”

The Spartans boast three double-figure scorers, led by junior guard Nathan Fife (21.0 points, 5.0 assists), who Edwards says will present a strong challenge defensively for the Pirates’ Jaiden Shephard.

“From what we’ve seen so far, he can score it from all three different levels; he can shoot it, his midrange is really good and he can finish at the rim. Plus he’s got some length, he’s 6-(foot)-3, and he’s averaging five assists a game. He’s definitely a threat off the bounce, and putting the ball up.”

Senior forward Patrick Dalton (13.7 points, 6.0 rebounds) and junior guard/forward Gordie Balas (10.0 points, 4.7 rebounds) are Sanderson’s other top scorers.

Sanderson has played nine games decided by six points or less, winning five of them; this includes their last four consecutive games, of which they won three.

Lumberton is seeking its fourth third-round playoff appearance in Edwards’ five-year tenure. Sanderson reached the second round last year in the program’s first playoff appearance since 2020.

The Lumberton-Sanderson winner will advance to face the victor between No. 1 New Hanover and No. 17 Knightdale in the third round.

West Craven at Fairmont girls

The fifth-seeded Fairmont girls team faces a tough test against No. 12 West Craven, who comes to Michael D. Baker Gymnasium for a 6 p.m. start on Friday.

West Craven (21-3) has lost only to top-seeded North Pitt, including two regular-season matchups and a conference tournament game. The Eagles beat No. 21 Kinston 52-47 in Tuesday’s opening round.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us. They just got the bad end of the stick as far as the seeding and the conference they’re in,” Fairmont coach Marcus Thompson said. “I think what works in our favor the most is we get the chance to play at home.”

The teams match up well; the Golden Tornadoes’ Taniya Simms will go up against Eagles senior post Torvonyah Heggie (19.8 points. 11.3 rebounds), while Fairmont guards Miah Smith and Niah Smith will face West Craven’s Shalawn Yates (14.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 4.8 steals) and Alissa Yates (9.0 points, 8.2 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 4.0 steals).

“They’re not extremely offensively savvy; there’s no secret who they’re trying to get the ball to,” Marcus Thompson said. “I wouldn’t say we’re extremely offensively savvy, but we don’t have purpose in particular that we’re trying to get the ball to. … When you have a team that long you have to watch your passes, so I think it’ll be important for us to watch our passes, take care of the ball. If we take care of the ball and get defensive rebounds, we’ll be fine.”

Fairmont (24-3) advanced with a 57-14 first-round win over No. 28 Bartlett Yancey. The Golden Tornadoes are making their third straight second-round appearance and seek a return to the third round after last year’s trip.

The survivor of Fairmont and West Craven will face either No. 4 Eastern Wayne or No. 13 East Duplin in the third round Tuesday.

St. Pauls at Southwest Onslow girls

Despite facing an undefeated opponent in No. 2 Southwest Onslow, St. Pauls girls coach Jaymar Thompson is confident about his team’s chances when the squads meet for a 6 p.m. tipoff in Friday’s 2A East Region second-rounder.

“I like the matchup,” Jaymar Thompson said. “They have two pretty good guards as well. If we can get that post presence from (Zakoreya Davis) again, we should be alright.”

Southwest Onslow (25-0) won the East Central Conference regular-season and tournament championships and won Tuesday’s first-round matchup over No. 31 South Lenoir 58-17. The Stallions reached the third round of the state playoffs last year.

“They’re always in the hunt up in that area,” Jaymar Thompson said. “But it’s hard to go undefeated, no matter who you are, so you’ve got to respect that.”

The two guards leading the Stallions are senior Yamorie Hardison (18.2 points, 7.2 rebounds, 6.1 assists, 6.6 steals) and junior Oriyanna Galloway (15.9 points, 3.7 assists).

“The game plan is we’ve got to know where they’re at at all times,” Jaymar Thompson said. “They’re not a really good-shooting team; they get a lot of theirs off fast breaks and drives, so we’re going to try to eliminate that a little bit. If we can do that and slow those two girls down, we can be alright on Friday night.”

No. 15 St. Pauls (18-5) beat No. 18 SouthWest Edgecombe 73-72 Tuesday to advance out of the first round for the fifth straight season.

The two schools incidentally faced each other in the boys playoffs on Tuesday, with Southwest Onslow beating the Bulldogs 72-47.

The St. Pauls-Southwest Onslow girls winner will move on to face either No. 7 Northeastern or No. 10 Goldsboro in the third round.