The Rocky River Ravens will head out on the road to face off against the East Mecklenburg Eagles at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Both teams come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Last Friday, Rocky River strolled past Garinger with points to spare, taking the game 60-41. Given Rocky River's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 216th, while Garinger is ranked 544th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Markiest Houston was his usual excellent self, scoring 16 points along with six rebounds and two steals. He is on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed two or more in the last 17 games he's played. Jayden Ross was another key contributor, scoring 13 points.
Meanwhile, East Mecklenburg didn't have too much trouble with Providence on the road on Friday as they won 55-38.
East Mecklenburg found their leader in underclassman Jordan Buzzard, who dropped a double-double on 15 points and 14 rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Ahmari Hicks, who scored 16 points along with five rebounds.
Rocky River's victory ended a four-game drought on the road and puts them at 8-10. As for East Mecklenburg, their victory bumped their record up to 10-8.
Keep an eye on the arc in Friday's matchup: Rocky River have made nailing deep shots look easy this year this season, having only averaged 6.4 threes per game. It's a different story for East Mecklenburg, though, as they've been averaging only 5.8 threes per game. Given Rocky River's sizeable advantage in that area, East Mecklenburg will need to find a way to close that gap.
Rocky River couldn't quite finish off East Mecklenburg when the teams last played back in December of 2023 and fell 53-51. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of East Mecklenburg's Bryson Heath, who scored 26 points. Now that Rocky River knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
