The Blue Ridge Fighting Tigers came tearing into Friday's matchup with three straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 12.7 points) and they left with even more momentum. They came out on top against Chapman by a score of 68-56. Having run the score up that high, both teams probably have some extra defensive drills coming up.
Leading Blue Ridge to victory were Paul Bishop and Nash Somero. Bishop scored 20 points along with nine rebounds and five assists, while Somero scored 34 points. That makes it three consecutive games in which Somero has scored at least a third of Blue Ridge's points. Nicklaus Poole was another key contributor, scoring two points along with nine rebounds.
Despite the loss, Chapman still got an impressive performance from Rashawn Cunningham, who scored 24 points. Cunningham continues to roll, besting his previous point total in each of the last three games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Khamari Turner, who scored eight points along with nine rebounds and two blocks.
Blue Ridge has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven games, which provided a massive bump to their 8-12 record this season. As for Chapman, they now have a losing record at 8-9.
Blue Ridge will be playing in front of their home fans against Travelers Rest at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The matchup should be an exciting one, as these teams are ranked near one another in South Carolina (Travelers Rest is ranked 109th, while Blue Ridge is ranked 134th). As for Chapman, they will head out on the road to face off against Broome at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Broome is out to stop a four-game streak of losses at home.
