FAIRMONT — For Montrell McNair, the feeling remains the same.
After helping the Fairmont boys basketball team claim its eighth-straight Three Rivers Conference title with a 73-33 win over East Columbus on Tuesday, the head coach of the Tornadoes smiled and shook his head.
“To me, it’s just like the others,” he said.
“It gets a little harder every year. It gets a little tougher to win it year after year. With these guys, it’s special because they didn’t want to be the first group to lose. They came out and worked hard over the summer.”
And like the previous seven times, the Golden Tornadoes (21-1, 15-1 TRC) used their vintage full-court pressure defense and strong guard play throughout the season to help cramp up the trophy case with some additional hardware.
Corry Addison, one of the squad’s senior leaders, led the charge on Tuesday with six points, seven steals and five assists against the Gators. His one-handed dunk in the third quarter sparked a 26-9 frame for the Tornadoes.
It was a perfect way to cap off the day for Addison, who committed to Fayetteville State via Twitter early Tuesday morning.
“All I’ve been thinking about is impressing my family,’ he said. “Verbally committing, I’m just trying to follow in my brother’s (Juwan) footsteps and try to be a better man.”
McNair has seen the growth from the time Addison stepped on campus as a raw freshman.
“I’m happy for him to be able to play at the next level,” McNair said. “When he first came in he wasn’t the best player. He worked real hard at getting better. That was his goal: to play at the next level. Now, he gets to do that.”
Fellow senior Sidney McKeithan scored 10 of his team-best 16 points in the second half and finished with six rebounds for the Tornadoes.
His senior-night highlight came in the opening period when he caught a lob from senior Derrick Arnette and finished a two-handed slam to give the Tornadoes an early 16-4 lead.
Fairmont led by as many as 40 points in the fourth quarter after a layup by Nalijha Pittman — who finished with 11 points and six rebounds — and never looked back en route to claiming another conference crown.
Jaquan Hinson added 10 points for the Tornadoes.
Fairmont will hit the road for its final two games of the regular season with a trip to West Bladen set for Wednesday before Friday’s finale at South Robeson.
Winners of 18 straight games, McNair and Addison said the Tornadoes must remain focused with the playoffs set to begin in a couple of weeks. Fairmont is in good position to earn a top-two seed if it continues to take care of business.
“Any little slip up from this point on can knock us down to No. 5 or 6 and that could put us playing a tough game in the second round,” McNair said.
“We just have to approach every game like a playoff game and do what we do best — and that’s solid defense.”
Addison added: “Nobody should want to lose. We’re just happy to get our eighth-straight title. We want to keep the tradition going. We have to keep our circle small and stay focused throughout on the basketball court and off.”
