You can't lose the game if you win every quarter, and that was precisely the Granville Central Panthers's strategy against the Vance County Vipers on Wednesday. Granville Central put the hurt on the Vipers with a sharp 62-40 win. Given Granville Central's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 169th, while the Vipers are ranked 463rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Granville Central was led to victory by Jordan Alston and Cj Alston. Alston scored 20 points along with five steals, while Alston scored 21 points along with seven rebounds and three steals. Alston is on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed two or more in the last nine games he's played. Taisean Hester was another key contributor, scoring seven points along with six steals and five assists.
Several Vipers players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Damion Jones, who scored 14 points along with two steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Tyshawn Alston, who scored eight points.
Granville Central's win was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 11-5. As for Vance County, they are on a three-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 6-9.
Granville Central will head out on the road to square off against the Jaguars at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Carrboro is strutting with some offensive muscle, as they've averaged 55.2 points per game this season. As for Vance County, they will be playing at home against the Spartans at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Southern Durham has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last three games.
