Basketball Game Preview: Blue Ridge Barons vs. Eastern Mennonite Flames

Blue Ridge is 5-0 against Eastern Mennonite since February of 2020 and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Wednesday. Having just played yesterday, the Blue Ridge Barons will head out on the road to face off against the Eastern Mennonite Flames at 6:30 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Blue Ridge has ten straight wins, Eastern Mennonite has four straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the court.

Blue Ridge is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Virginia's top teams: Stuart Hall, who was ranked fifth at the time (Blue Ridge was ranked first). Blue Ridge came out on top against Stuart Hall by a score of 71-63 on Tuesday. The score was all tied up 29-29 at the break, but the Barons were the better team in the second half.

It was another big night for Dreylan Creasy-Quirindoongo, who went 5 of 9 on his way to 15 points. The contest was his third in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Kosi Mgbejiofer, who posted nine points and three blocks.

Meanwhile, Eastern Mennonite played a tough matchup on Thursday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They were outmatched by Miller School of Albemarle and fell 87-34. The game marked the Flames' lowest-scoring contest so far this season.

Blue Ridge's victory was their ninth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 10-0. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 78.1 points per game. As for Eastern Mennonite, their loss dropped their record down to 1-4.

Blue Ridge beat Eastern Mennonite 73-64 in their previous meeting back in December of 2023. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Eastern Mennonite's Drew Hatter, who went 13 of 23 on his way to 28 points and eight rebounds. Now that he won't be playing on Wednesday, will it be easier for Blue Ridge to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.