The East Side Red Raiders are taking a road trip to take on the Newark Central Blue Devils at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Both have had a bumpy ride up to this point with three consecutive losses for East Side and eight for Newark Central dating back to last season.
Last Thursday, East Side had to suffer through a 78-50 loss at the hands of St. Benedict's Prep. While losing is never fun, the Red Raiders can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' New Jersey basketball rankings (they are ranked 207th, while the Gray Bees are ranked 32nd).
Meanwhile, while it was all tied up 19-19 at halftime, Newark Central was not quite West Caldwell Tech's equal in the second half on Saturday. They took a 52-46 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Eagles.
East Side will need focus on slowing down Yam'Bya Ndaw, one of several Newark Central players who made an impact when they last played. He posted four points in addition to 11 rebounds and six blocks. Ndaw is crushing it when it comes to blocks: he's posted at least three every time he's taken the court this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Malachi Thomas, who went 6 of 15 on his way to 13 points and seven rebounds.
East Side's defeat dropped their record down to 3-3. As for Newark Central, their loss dropped their record down to 0-7.
East Side came up short against Newark Central when the teams last played back in January of 2024, falling 55-43. Can East Side avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
