The Cumberland Pirates lost against the Blue Ridge Knights back in January of 2023, and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Friday. Cumberland fell 57-45 to Blue Ridge. Cumberland has now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Cumberland's loss came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Blake Mcmechan, who scored 12 points along with two steals. Mcmechan has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last three times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Kaleb Bierman, who scored seven points along with two steals.
Colin Michaels was his usual excellent self, scoring 22 points along with six rebounds and three steals for Blue Ridge. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Michaels has scored all season. Another player making a difference was Wyatt Pearl, who scored 11 points along with five assists and five rebounds.
Cumberland's defeat was their fourth straight on the road, which bumped their record down to 6-14. As for Blue Ridge, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five contests, which provided a nice bump to their 12-6 record this season.
Cumberland will head out on the road to challenge Heritage at 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday. Hopefully Heritage focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 23 on Saturday. Blue Ridge will have some time to savor their victory since their next game is a little ways off: they'll take on Okaw Valley at 7:30 p.m. on January 30th.
