Basketball Game Preview: East Chapel Hill Wildcats vs. Riverside-Durham Pirates

The East Chapel Hill Wildcats will face off against the Riverside-Durham Pirates at 8:00 p.m. on Monday. East Chapel Hill will be strutting in after a victory while Riverside-Durham will be coming in after a loss.

East Chapel Hill is coming into the contest on the come-up as their season has now been buoyed by two straight wins. They enjoyed a cozy 78-64 victory over Northern Durham on Friday.

Meanwhile, Riverside-Durham came up short against Hillside on Friday and fell 42-34. While losing is never fun, the Pirates can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 367th, while the Hornets are ranked 181st).

East Chapel Hill will need focus on slowing down Talib Harrell, one of several Riverside-Durham players who made an impact when they last played. He went 6 for 8 on his way to 12 points and four steals. Those 12 points gave Harrell a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Darryn Johnson, who posted eight points in addition to eight boards and five assists.

East Chapel Hill's win ended a five-game drought at home and bumped them up to 5-12. As for Riverside-Durham, they have been struggling recently as they've lost seven of their last eight matchups, which put a noticeable dent in their 5-14 record this season.

East Chapel Hill didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Riverside-Durham in their previous meeting back in February of 2024, but they still walked away with a 50-45 victory. Does East Chapel Hill have another victory up their sleeve, or will Riverside-Durham turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.