Basketball Recap: East Chapel Hill Takes a Loss

East Chapel Hill was the 50-45 winner over Riverside-Durham when they last played one another back in February of 2024, but their luck changed this time around. The East Chapel Hill Wildcats fell to the Riverside-Durham Pirates 66-61.

Samuel Smith

Points

02/03/25 vs Riverside-Durham	17
01/31/25 vs Northern Durham	13
01/27/25 @ Northern Durham	6
01/24/25 @ Chapel Hill	4
01/17/25 vs Hillside	10
+ 12 more games

Defeat or not, East Chapel Hill got some senior leadership from Makai Rhodes and Samuel Smith. Rhodes went 5 of 9 on his way to 21 points and five boards, while Smith went 8 for 14 en route to 17 points and seven rebounds. Smith continues to improve, besting his previous point total in each of the last three games he's played. Another player making a difference was Bennett Corley, who posted 13 points.

Even though they lost, East Chapel Hill was working as a unit and finished the game with 14 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Riverside-Durham only racked up four assists.

Riverside-Durham's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Darryn Johnson, who had 15 points and four steals. The dominant performance gave Johnson a new career-high in steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Amari Royster, who went 5 of 10 to rack up 12 points.

East Chapel Hill's loss dropped their record down to 5-13. As for Riverside-Durham, their win bumped their record up to 6-14.

East Chapel Hill has already played their next matchup, an 83-63 defeat against Hillside on the 7th. As for Riverside-Durham, they also didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next game, a 39-33 victory against Chapel Hill on the 4th.