Basketball Recap: East St. John Comes Up Short

East St. John was not able to break out of their rough patch on Monday as the team picked up their fifth straight loss. They lost to the Independence Tigers on the road by a 81-66 margin. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game last Saturday (57), the Wildcats still had to take the loss.

Independence's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Jayden Anderson led the charge by dropping a double-double on 23 points and 12 boards. Anderson is becoming a predictor of Independence's success: when he posts at least ten rebounds the team is 8-2 (and 8-10 when he doesn't). The team also got some help courtesy of Haymann Milton, who posted 21 points.

East St. John's defeat dropped their record down to 18-20. As for Independence, they have been performing well recently as they've won nine of their last 12 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 16-12 record this season.

East St. John won't have much time to rest: their next contest is against Thibodaux at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. As for Independence, they will challenge St. Thomas Aquinas at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.