Catawba Ridge has enjoyed a two-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will challenge the Indian Land Warriors at 7:45 p.m. on Tuesday. One thing working in Catawba Ridge's favor is that they have posted big point totals in their last 16 matches.
Last Friday, Catawba Ridge faced the Bruins in a battle between two of the state's top teams. Catawba Ridge came out on top against the Bruins by a score of 66-56. Having run the score up that high, both teams probably have some extra defensive drills coming up.
Catawba Ridge's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Quh'Mareon Webb, who scored 13 points along with four steals. Lance Barnes was another key contributor, scoring 13 points along with six rebounds and two steals.
Meanwhile, Indian Land had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 28.3 points), and they went ahead and made it four on Friday. They snuck past South Pointe with a 57-53 victory. Given Indian Land's advantage in MaxPreps' South Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 21st, while the Stallions are ranked 94th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Indian Land's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Michael Jones led the charge by scoring 22 points. That makes it four consecutive games in which Jones has scored at least a third of Indian Land's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Sincere Rasul, who scored 21 points along with two steals.
Catawba Ridge pushed their record up to 21-2 with that victory, which was their tenth straight at home. They've been dominating during the games in that stretch too, as they've won by an average of 31.7 points. As for Indian Land, they have been performing well recently as they've won eight of their last ten matches, which provided a nice bump to their 18-6 record this season.
Tuesday's game will pit two of the most dominant guards against one another: Barnes and Jones. Barnes has been dynamite this season: he has averaged 19.3 points, 3 steals, and 4.2 assists. For his part, Jones has averaged 25 points, 1.5 steals, and 2 assists.
Everything went Catawba Ridge's way against the Warriors in their previous matchup back in January as the Copperheads made off with a 64-38 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Catawba Ridge since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
