Basketball Game Preview: East Gaston Warriors vs. Highland Tech Rams

The East Gaston Warriors will square off against the Highland Tech Rams at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. One thing working in East Gaston's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points in their last five contests.

East Gaston is headed into the matchup out to prove that what happened against Burns on Tuesday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. East Gaston was dealt an 89-57 loss at the hands of Burns. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on Friday (55), the Warriors still had to take the loss.

Meanwhile, Highland Tech didn't have quite enough to beat Bessemer City on Wednesday and fell 58-55.

East Gaston will have to contain Elijah Sherrill as he made an impact in Highland Tech's last game. He went 12-for-21 on his way to 33 points in addition to eight rebounds and five assists. Sherrill's evening made it 26 games in a row in which he has scored at least 15 points. Coleman Schafer was another key player, putting up nine points.

Highland Tech has traveled a rocky road recently having lost four of their last five games, which has put a noticeable dent in their 10-12 record this season. That patch can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 57.0 points over those games. As for East Gaston, their defeat was their third straight on the road, which dropped their record down to 3-19.

East Gaston took a serious blow against Highland Tech in their previous matchup back in January, falling 72-36. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Sherrill, who shot 4-for-6 from deep and dropped a double-double with 32 points and ten boards. Now that East Gaston knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.