East Ridge and Umatilla are an even 5-5 against one another since January of 2015, but not for long. The East Ridge Knights will head out on the road to face off against the Umatilla Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. The squads are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: East Ridge has struggled recently with 20 defeats in a row, while Umatilla will arrive with six straight victories.
East Ridge suffered their biggest loss since December 15, 2023 on Friday. They were the victim of a tough 63-38 loss at the hands of South Lake. East Ridge has struggled against South Lake recently, as their match on Friday was their ninth consecutive lost matchup.
Despite the defeat, East Ridge got a solid performance out of Nicholas Vazquez, who scored 18 points along with seven rebounds and three blocks. Vazquez hasn't dropped below two blocks for three straight games. The team also got some help courtesy of Jordan Corman, who scored two points along with eight rebounds and three steals.
Umatilla proved they can win big on Tuesday (they won by 35) but on Thursday they proved they can win the close ones too. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 53-50 victory over South Lake. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest victory Umatilla has posted yet this season.
Umatilla found their leader in underclassman Herly Brutus, who dropped a double-double on 16 points and 14 rebounds. Brutus is absolutely dominating the rebound category: he's posted at least eight every time he's taken the court this season. Another player making a difference was Artis James, who scored eight points along with three steals.
East Ridge bumped their record down to 0-18 with that defeat, which was their tenth straight on the road. As for Umatilla, they are on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight contests, which provided a nice bump to their 14-3 record this season.
East Ridge was dealt a bruising 93-57 defeat at the hands of Umatilla when the teams last played back in December of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Brutus, who dropped a triple-double on 12 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists. Now that East Ridge knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
