The Pender Patriots will be playing in front of their home fans against the West Columbus Vikings at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The teams are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Pender has struggled recently with six losses in a row, while West Columbus will arrive with three straight wins.
While Pender couldn't quite beat Whiteville on Wednesday, the two-point margin was a huge improvement compared to the 20-point defeat they were dealt on Tuesday. Pender fell just short of Whiteville by a score of 46-44. Pender found out winning isn't easy when you don't work as a unit and post seven fewer assists than your opponent.
The match pitted two dominant guards against one another in Cyrus Page and Amari Best. Best had a great game and dropped a double-double on 16 points and 23 rebounds. Meanwhile, Page was balling out in the loss, scoring 12 points along with four steals.
Meanwhile, a well-balanced attack led West Columbus over East Bladen in every quarter on their way to victory on Tuesday. West Columbus took down East Bladen 72-58. Having run the score up that high, both teams probably have some extra defensive drills coming up.
West Columbus found their leader in underclassman Larry Graham, who scored 19 points along with seven steals and five rebounds. Jaylen Bellamy was another key contributor, scoring 14 points along with three steals.
Pender has traveled a rocky road recently having lost 12 of their last 13 matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 3-15 record this season. As for West Columbus, they are on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine contests, which provided a massive bump to their 11-5 record this season.
Pender suffered a grim 75-51 defeat to West Columbus in their previous meeting back in January. Will Pender have more luck at home instead of on the road? Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other basketball content.
