The Pineville Mountain Lions entered their tilt with the Cumberland Gap Panthers with four consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with five. Pineville came out on top against Cumberland Gap by a score of 65-57 on Friday. Given Pineville's advantage in MaxPreps' basketball rankings in their respective home states (they are ranked 133rd in Kentucky, while Cumberland Gap is ranked 383rd in Tennessee), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Cumberland Gap's loss came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Kolton Goins, who scored 22 points along with five rebounds. That was a full 38.6% of Cumberland Gap's points, marking the third time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Brady Harris, who scored 17 points along with six rebounds.
Pineville has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight contests, which provided a nice bump to their 17-6 record this season. As for Cumberland Gap, they dropped their record down to 7-19 with that loss, which was their seventh straight at home.
Both teams will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Pineville will be staying on the road on Tuesday to face off against Harlan County at 7:30 p.m. on February 13th. Pineville has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 1,681 points over their last 23 games. As for Cumberland Gap, they will head out on the road to take on Cherokee at 6:00 p.m. on Monday. Cumberland Gap is facing Cherokee at the right time seeing as Cherokee is stuck on a three-game losing streak.
