Even though the Cherokee Braves scored an imposing 58 points on Tuesday, the Murphy Bulldogs still came out on top. Murphy walked away with a 70-58 victory over the Braves. The win made it back-to-back wins for Murphy.
Will Joyner was nothing short of spectacular: he scored 21 points along with six rebounds. It was the first time this season that he scored 15 or more points. The team also got some help courtesy of Xander Wachacha, who scored 11 points along with seven assists and two steals.
Cherokee's defeat shouldn't obscure the performances of Elijah Lineberry, who scored 14 points, and Luke Smith who scored 12 points. Another player making a difference was Samuel Hernandez, who scored eight points.
Murphy's victory was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 10-5. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 81.3 points per game. As for Cherokee, their defeat ended a four-game streak of away wins and brought them to 8-7.
Murphy will be playing in front of their home fans against the Bobcats at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Blue Ridge Early College has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last three games. Cherokee will be staying on the road on Friday to face off against the Black Knights at 7:00 p.m. on January 26th.
