ELIZABETHTOWN — East Bladen coach Ken Cross had no idea how his Eagles would respond Wednesday night after dropping only its second Waccamaw Conference game of the season the night before. What he found out had to please him

The Eagles used a late surge to post a 56-40 win over North Brunswick, and improve their record to 7-2 in the conference and 17-3 overall.

It was East Bladen’s fifth game in nine days.

Five early points from Jaquan Jones helped the Eagles to a 7-0 lead to open the game and East Bladen went on to post a 15-8 lead after the first quarter.

The Scorpions used a 7-0 run of their own in the second stanza to pull within two, but the Eagles finished the half on a 3-0 spurt to take a 22-17 edge into intermission.

East Bladen opened the second half with an 8-4 run for a 30-21. But a 37-26 lead started to melt away for east Bladen when the Scorpions manufactured a 5-0 run that closed the gap to 37-31 at the end of three quarters.

After North Brunswick got within 37-33 early in the final period, the Eagles turned the tables and went on a 9-1 run fueled by a Ray Beatty 3-pointer to open a 46-34 lead.

Latyson Robinson canned all seven of his points in the final 8 minutes to help the Eagles seal the win.

Montrel Rogers led East Bladen with 17 points. Jones added 16 points and Beatty scored 10 for the Eagles.

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Eagles fall

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In the midst of a brutal six games in 10 days, the Eagles of East Bladen High battled back from an early nine-point deficit on Tuesday but went on to drop a 57-49 verdict to West Brunswick High in Shallotte on Tuesday.

West Brunswick raced out to an 11-2 lead to open the game, but the Eagles battled back with an 11-6 run and closed the gap to 17-13 as the first quarter ended.

The momentum continued for East Bladen, as the Eagles took a 22-21 lead halfway through the quarter, but a 7-4 run by the Trojans gave them the halftime edge, 28-26.

Foul trouble began to take its toll on East Bladen in the second half.

With the Eagles’ leading scorer Montrel Rogers on the bench early in the half, West Brunswick used a 13-10 third quarter advantage to register a 41-36 lead after three quarters of play, and then followed it up with a 16-13 advantage in the final 8 minutes to seal the game.

Rogers led East Bladen with 20 points.