East Bay has enjoyed the comforts of home their last two games, but now they'll head out on the road. The East Bay Indians and the Blake Yellow Jackets will face off at 8:00 p.m. on January 22nd without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Hopefully East Bay focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 21 on Wednesday.
East Bay only won by three when they last took the court, which might have inspired the 22-point they dealt Riverview on Wednesday. East Bay blew past Riverview 63-41. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest victory East Bay has posted yet this season.
Among those leading the charge was Amare Baran, who scored 12 points along with six assists and six rebounds. Another player making a difference was Curry Staples, who scored 11 points.
Meanwhile, Blake unfortunately witnessed the end of their three-game winning streak on Wednesday. They received a tough blow as they fell 70-52 to Leto.
Blake's defeat came about despite a quality game from Joe Philon, who dropped a double-double on 21 points and 15 rebounds. Philon is on a roll when it comes to blocks, as he's now posted two or more in the last five games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Kentrell Martin, who scored nine points along with eight rebounds and three steals.
East Bay is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six matches, which provided a massive bump to their 7-9 record this season. As for Blake, their defeat ended a eight-game streak of away wins and brought them to 15-3.
Monday's match is shaping up to be a masterclass in shooting: East Bay have been dynamite from deep this season, having nailed 41.9% of their threes per game. However, it's not like Blake struggles in that department as they've drained 40.2% of their threes per game this season. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
East Bay strolled past Blake in their previous matchup back in January of 2022 by a score of 55-40. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Blake's Henry Katz, who dropped a double-double on 11 points and 11 rebounds. Now that he won't be playing on Monday, will it be that much easier for East Bay to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.
