Basketball Recap: Providence Takes Loss Despite Strong Performances from Liam Drayton and Caleb Gaither

If Providence was riding high fresh off their 70-32 takedown of Garinger last Tuesday, their most recent game may have dampened their spirits a bit. The Providence Panthers took a 54-45 hit to the loss column at the hands of the East Mecklenburg Eagles on Friday. While losing is never fun, the Panthers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 272nd, while the Eagles are ranked 109th).

Liam Drayton

Rebounds

02/14/25 vs East Mecklenburg	13
02/07/25 @ Rocky River	16
02/04/25 @ Independence	10

Providence's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Caleb Gaither, who went 6-for-11 en route to 13 points and six boards, and Liam Drayton, who dropped a double-double with ten points and 13 rebounds. Drayton has been hot recently, having posted ten or more rebounds the last three times he's played.

Even though they lost, Providence smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 13 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in five consecutive matches.

Providence's defeat dropped their record down to 7-17. As for East Mecklenburg, they are on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last nine games, which provided a nice bump to their 15-9 record this season.

As of now, neither Providence nor East Mecklenburg have any future games scheduled.