After a string of four wins, the Blair Vikings's good fortune finally ran out on Tuesday. They took a 96-78 bruising from Pilibos. While losing is never fun, Blair can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 542nd, while Pilibos is ranked 108th).
Despite the defeat, Blair saw an underclassman step up: Timmy Anderson scored 37 points along with seven assists. Anderson scored a full 47.4% of Blair's points, the ninth time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was Tarynce Price, who scored 18 points along with five rebounds.
Even though they lost, Blair were working as a unit and finished the game with 18 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Pilibos only racked up 29 assists.
Antranik Balian was his usual excellent self, shooting 4-for-7 from beyond the arc and dropping a triple-double on 38 points, 15 rebounds, and ten assists for Pilibos. The matchup was Balian 's 11th in a row with at least ten points. Eric Honanian was another key contributor, scoring 19 points along with five assists.
Blair's defeat dropped their record down to 5-4. As for Pilibos, they have been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six contests, which provided a nice bump to their 9-3 record this season.
Blair won't have much time to rest: their next contest is against Santa Monica at 11:00 a.m. on December 27th. Santa Monica knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with flashy point totals in its past eight games -- so hopefully Blair likes a good challenge. Pilibos won't have much time to rest: their next match is against St. Francis at 8:00 p.m. on December 27th.
