Even though the Southwestern Randolph Cougars scored an imposing 63 points on Friday, the Trinity Bulldogs still came out on top. Trinity walked away with a 71-63 victory over the Cougars. Given Trinity's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 215th, while the Cougars are ranked 442nd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Trinity's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Dominic Payne led the charge by scoring 27 points along with five assists and five rebounds. Payne is crushing the point category: he's posted at least 19 every time he's taken the court this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Brandon Campbell, who dropped a double-double on 22 points and 11 rebounds.
Southwestern Randolph lost despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Nathan Ellis, who scored 21 points along with seven rebounds and five assists. Ellis has been hot recently, having posted 17 or more points the last five times he's played. Another player making a difference was Marcus Robertson, who scored 16 points along with eight rebounds and five assists.
Trinity's win bumped their record up to 12-7. As for Southwestern Randolph, their loss dropped their record down to 6-13.
Trinity will head out on the road to square off against the Warriors at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Wheatmore has now lost 18 straight, and the team is hunting for their first win since November 20. As for Southwestern Randolph, they will look to defend their home court on Wednesday against the Patriots at 7:30 p.m.
