Preview: North Central Eagles vs. Emmanuel Christian Warriors
The North Central Eagles's road trip will continue as they head out to face the Emmanuel Christian Warriors at 7:00 p.m. on February 19th. North Central will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Ohio Rankings (they are ranked 695th, while Emmanuel Christian is ranked 63rd).
Last Friday, North Central was the victim of a tough 58-38 loss at the hands of Stryker. North Central was down 44-20 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from.
Despite the loss, North Central had strong showings from Jackson Poynter, who scored 12 points, and Tyler Meyers, who scored six points. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Poynter has scored all season.
Meanwhile, Emmanuel Christian entered their tilt with Maumee Valley Country Day with six consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with seven. Emmanuel Christian secured a 60-56 W over Maumee Valley Country Day on Friday. Having run the score up that high, both teams probably have some extra defensive drills coming up.
Emmanuel Christian's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Jalen Brown, who scored 20 points along with six rebounds and three steals. Brown has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last three times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Nate Miles, who dropped a double-double on 17 points and 13 rebounds.
North Central has been struggling recently as they've lost ten of their last 12 games, which put a noticeable dent in their 6-14 record this season. As for Emmanuel Christian, they are on a roll lately: they've won 11 of their last 12 games, which provided a nice bump to their 17-2 record this season.
Monday's match is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: North Central have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 24.8 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Emmanuel Christian struggles in that department as they've been averaging 32.9 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
North Central couldn't quite finish off Emmanuel Christian in their previous matchup back in February of 2018 and fell 43-40. Can North Central avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
