East hasn't had much luck against Northland recently, but that could start to change on Tuesday. The East Tigers are taking a road trip to square off against the Northland Vikings at 7:00 p.m. East knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 55 points or more in their past five matches -- so hopefully Northland likes a good challenge.
East will bounce into Tuesday's game after beating Beechcroft, who they had gone 0-9 against in their nine prior meetings. East came out on top against Beechcroft by a score of 61-54 two weeks ago. While the Tigers didn't have the best season last year (they finished 7-14), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past.
| 12/20/24 vs Beechcroft | 25 |
| 12/17/24 @ Columbus International | 25 |
| 12/13/24 @ Centennial | 19 |
| 12/10/24 vs Linden-McKinley | 15 |
| 12/09/24 vs Marion-Franklin | 24 |
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead East to victory, but perhaps none more so than Daeshawn Fiore, who almost dropped a double-double on 25 points and nine boards. Fiore's evening made it five games in a row in which he has scored at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Antwain Reedus, who posted 18 points in addition to five boards and three steals.
Meanwhile, Northland was not able to break out of their rough patch on Thursday as the team picked up their third straight defeat. 2025 welcomed they with an 82-61 loss courtesy of Westerville North. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game last Friday (55), the Vikings still had to take the loss.
Despite the loss, Northland saw an underclassman step up: sophomore Owan Mburugu went 6 of 12 on his way to 14 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Diante James, who had 12 points.
East pushed their record up to 4-1 with the victory, which was their fourth straight at home dating back to last season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 68.3 points per game. As for Northland, their defeat dropped their record down to 6-3.
Keep an eye on the arc in Tuesday's contest: East has made nailing deep shots look easy this year this season, having averaged 8 three-pointers per game. It's a different story for Northland, though, as they've been averaging only 3.6 threes. Given East's sizable advantage in that area, Northland will need to find a way to close that gap.
East came up short against Northland when the teams last played back in January of 2024, falling 67-56. Can East avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
