Two dominant forwards in Blake Suttle and Kee'Donn Linney are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The East Rutherford Cavaliers will take on the Kings Mountain Mountaineers in a tournament on Friday. East Rutherford is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 61 points per game this season.
Last Wednesday, East Rutherford ended up a good deal behind Shelby and lost 60-46. The game marked the Cavaliers' lowest-scoring match so far this season.
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Suttle, who dropped a double-double on ten points and 16 boards. Another player making a difference was Matthew Pinkerton, who posted ten points and three steals.
Meanwhile, Kings Mountain had already won four in a row and they went ahead and made it five on Thursday. They blew past the Storm 70-45. The contest marked the Mountaineers' most dominant victory of the season so far.
Kings Mountain's win came from a few key players East Rutherford will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Linney, who went 5 of 10 on his way to 14 points. The team also got some help courtesy of J'Myun Huskey, who put up 11 points and five steals.
Kings Mountain smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 13 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least nine offensive rebounds in seven consecutive games.
This is the second loss in a row for East Rutherford and nudges their season record down to 2-7. As for Kings Mountain, their win bumped their record up to 5-2.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: East Rutherford has crashing the boards this season, having averaged 28.6 boards per game. However, it's not like Kings Mountain struggles in that department as they've been averaging 34.7 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
East Rutherford came up short against Kings Mountain in their previous meeting back in December of 2022, falling 61-53. Can East Rutherford avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
