Basketball Recap: Emerald Takes Loss Despite Strong Efforts from Da'marquis Hopkins and Rykevius Logan

Emerald played a tough matchup on Tuesday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They lost 71-49 to the Westside Rams. While losing is never fun, the Vikings can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' South Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 166th, while the Rams are ranked 13th).

Rykevius Logan and Da'Marquis Hopkins certainly did their best on Tuesday to avoid the loss. Logan dropped a double-double on 12 points and 11 boards, while Hopkins went 6 of 9 on his way to 14 points and five rebounds.

Westside's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Keemaj Clinkscales, who went 5 of 7 on his way to 15 points and five steals. That's the most steals Clinkscales has posted since back in January of 2024. The team also got some help courtesy of Kmajay Jenkins, who dropped a double-double on 16 points and 12 rebounds.

This is the second loss in a row for Emerald and nudges their season record down to 6-8. As for Westside, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 13-2.

Emerald didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next contest, a 48-42 loss against Southside on the 9th. As for Westside, they will venture away from home to square off against Laurens at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Westside is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 63.9 points per game this season.