Pendleton has enjoyed a two-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will take on the Walhalla Razorbacks at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.
Pendleton suffered their biggest loss yet this season on Tuesday. They were dealt a 75-34 loss at the hands of Daniel. While losing is never fun, Pendleton can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' South Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 150th, while Daniel is ranked 47th).
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Luke Gray, who scored 13 points along with six rebounds. Another player making a difference was Kory Jones, who scored 12 points along with seven rebounds and two steals.
Pendleton struggled to get the ball back on offense and finished the game with only four offensive rebounds. They were crushed by their opponents in that department as Daniel pulled down 26 offensive rebounds.
Meanwhile, Walhalla pushed their score all the way to 72 on Tuesday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They took a 76-72 hit to the loss column at the hands of Seneca. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their last game on Friday (61), Walhalla still had to take the loss.
Walhalla's defeat came about despite a quality game from Crews Richardson, who scored 28 points along with five rebounds and two steals. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Richardson has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Ander Hunnicutt, who scored 13 points along with seven assists and five rebounds.
Pendleton's loss ended a four-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 10-10. As for Walhalla, their defeat dropped their record down to 6-10.
Friday's match is shaping up to be a scrappy game: Pendleton have been smashing the glass this season, having only averaged 25.2 rebounds per game. It's a different story for Walhalla, though, as they've been averaging only 33.5 rebounds per game. Given Pendleton's sizeable advantage in that area, Walhalla will need to find a way to close that gap.
Pendleton strolled past Walhalla in their previous matchup back in February of 2023 by a score of 49-31. Will Pendleton repeat their success, or does Walhalla have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
