The Essex Trojans put another one in the bag on Thursday to keep their perfect season alive. They strolled past Colonial Beach with points to spare, taking the game 62-44. The high flying offensive effort was a huge turnaround for Essex considering their one-point performance the game before.
Essex was led to victory by Morgan Self and Jaylah Mercer. Self almost dropped a triple-double on 13 points, nine rebounds, and 14 blocks, while Mercer almost dropped a double-double on 33 points and nine steals. That makes it three consecutive games in which Mercer has scored at least a third of Essex's points. Another player making a difference was Amani Brown, who scored six points along with six rebounds.
Essex's win was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 15-0. As for Colonial Beach, they have traveled a rocky road recently having lost four of their last five matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 7-11 record this season.
Essex will be playing in front of their home fans against the Royal Tigers at 6:15 p.m. on Monday. King & Queen Central will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Virginia Rankings (they are ranked 358th, while the Trojans are ranked 132nd). As for Colonial Beach, they will head out on the road to take on the Raiders at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.
