The Virginia Academy Patriots will head out on the road to challenge the Evergreen Christian Eagles at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Last Wednesday, Virginia Academy came up short against Benedictine and fell 65-57. While losing is never fun, Virginia Academy can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Virginia basketball rankings (they are ranked 170th, while Benedictine is ranked 30th).
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the most dominant came from Surafel Muluneh, who scored 17 points. That's the first time this season that he scored 15 or more points. Another player making a difference was Rondel Jones Jr., who scored seven points along with seven assists and four steals.
Riverdale Baptist typically has all the answers at home, but on Tuesday Evergreen Christian proved too difficult a challenge. They walked away with an 86-74 victory over the Crusaders. The win made it back-to-back wins for Evergreen Christian.
Evergreen Christian can attribute much of their success to Jackson Britt, who scored 23 points, and Matthew Shelton, who scored 24 points along with three steals. Shelton is on a roll when it comes to points, as he's now scored 15 or more in the last nine games he's played. Rodney Ekwoanya was another key contributor, scoring 14 points along with eight rebounds.
Virginia Academy dropped their record down to 4-16 with that defeat, which was their sixth straight at home. Those losses can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 55.3 points per game. As for Evergreen Christian, they are on a roll lately: they've won ten of their last 12 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 18-6 record this season.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Virginia Academy have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 24.4 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Evergreen Christian struggles in that department as they've been averaging 34.6 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Virginia Academy lost to Evergreen Christian on the road by a decisive 68-51 margin in their previous matchup on January 8th. Can Virginia Academy avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
