The Chatham Central Bears entered their tilt with the Western Harnett Eagles with seven consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with eight. Chatham Central strolled past Western Harnett with points to spare on Thursday, taking the game 53-39. Given Chatham Central's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 179th, while Western Harnett is ranked 618th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Jacob Gilliland continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, dropping a double-double on 20 points and 11 rebounds. He also posted two blocks for the first time this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Reid Albright, who almost dropped a double-double on 12 points and nine rebounds.
Chatham Central pushed their record up to 20-2 with that win, which was their fifth straight on the road. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 68.6 points per game. As for Western Harnett, they still haven't won a game yet this season and fell to 0-21.
Both teams will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Chatham Central will challenge Northwood at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. As for Western Harnett, they won't have much time to rest: their next match is against E.E. Smith at 7:30 p.m. on February 9th. Hopefully E.E. Smith focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 25 last Tuesday.
