Sun Valley and East Mecklenburg are an even 4-4 against one another since November of 2014, but not for long. The Sun Valley Spartans will be playing at home against the East Mecklenburg Eagles at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Hopefully Sun Valley focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 12 on Tuesday.
Last Tuesday, Sun Valley was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap as they fell 54-48 to Providence. Sun Valley has now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Despite the defeat, Sun Valley had strong showings from Nathan Tavares, who scored 19 points, and Kaleel Benjamin, who dropped a double-double on 15 points and 17 rebounds. Tavares scored a full 39.6% of Sun Valley's points, the third time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was Devin Nicholas sumpter, who scored 5 points along with 7 rebounds.
Even though East Mecklenburg has not done well against Porter Ridge recently (they were 2-7 in their previous nine matchups), they didn't let the past get in their way on Saturday. East Mecklenburg breezed by Porter Ridge on the road to the tune of 88-47. The matchup was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 37-14.
The losses dropped Sun Valley to 2-2 and Providence to 1-2.
Sun Valley couldn't quite finish off East Mecklenburg in their previous matchup back in December of 2022 and fell 74-72. Can Sun Valley avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
