Two dominant guards in Clayton Everett Jr and Gavin Ward are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Ashley Ridge Swamp Foxes will take on the James Island Trojans at 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with Ashley Ridge sitting on three straight wins and James Island on seven.
Ashley Ridge proved they can win big on Tuesday (they won by 30) and on Friday they proved they can win the close ones too. They narrowly escaped with a victory as the team sidled past Summerville 52-49. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest win the Swamp Foxes have posted since December 30, 2024.
Meanwhile, James Island blew past Fort Dorchester, posting a 68-31 victory. Given the Trojans' advantage in MaxPreps' South Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 24th, while the Patriots are ranked 120th), the result on Friday wasn't entirely unexpected.
Ashley Ridge better focus on containing Parker Renault and Ward as the pair were huge in James Island's win. Renault dropped a double-double on 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Ward went 6 of 9 en route to 16 points along with eight boards and five assists. The dominant performance also gave Ward a new career-high in shooting accuracy (67%). Jay Morris was another key player, going 5 for 12 to rack up 11 points and seven boards.
James Island smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 15 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 14 offensive rebounds in three consecutive matchups.
James Island pushed their record up to 16-7 with the win, which was their fourth straight at home. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 65.0 points over those games. As for Ashley Ridge, their record is now 17-6.
Ashley Ridge came up short against James Island in their previous matchup two weeks ago, falling 67-60. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Ward, who went 5 of 9 on his way to 19 points in addition to seven assists and three steals. Now that Ashley Ridge knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
