The Hendersonville Bearcats had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 36.3 points), and they went ahead and made it four on Tuesday. They took down East Rutherford 71-54. Given Hendersonville's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 137th, while East Rutherford is ranked 290th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Leading Hendersonville to victory were Malachi Simpson and Cj Landrum. Simpson scored 23 points along with eight rebounds and two steals, while Landrum dropped a double-double on 22 points and ten rebounds. Simpson has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last five times he's played. Another player making a difference was Coby Retana, who scored 11 points.
Despite the loss, East Rutherford saw an underclassman step up: Matthew Pinkerton scored 21 points. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Pinkerton has scored all season. Dacen "pop" Petty was another key contributor, scoring 11 points along with seven rebounds and four steals.
Hendersonville has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six matches, which provided a nice bump to their 15-6 record this season. As for East Rutherford, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 11-11.
Hendersonville will head out on the road to take on Brevard at 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday. One thing working in Hendersonville's favor is that they have posted big point totals in their last five matches. As for East Rutherford, they will be playing in front of their home fans against R-S Central at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. East Rutherford is strutting with some offensive muscle, as they've averaged 63.9 points per game this season.
