After both having extra time off, the Columbus Explorers and the Evans Trojans will shake off the cobwebs and challenge one another at 11:00 a.m. on March 8th. One thing working in Columbus' favor is that they have posted big point totals every time they've taken the court this season.
It can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but Columbus had no problem doing just that last Friday. They blew past the Stingarees 71-42 on the road. Columbus has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 15 matchups by 23 points or more this season.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Columbus to victory, but perhaps none more so than Cameron Boozer, who dropped a double-double on 16 points and 15 rebounds. Boozer hasn't dropped below 15 points for eight straight games. Jase Richardson was another key contributor, scoring 21 points along with three blocks.
Meanwhile, Evans had already won four in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 16.8 points), and they went ahead and made it five last Friday. They managed a 75-70 victory over Seminole. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
Evans' success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but David Rushing led the charge by scoring 20 points along with seven rebounds and two steals. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Rushing has scored all season. Another player making a difference was Arosco Dubois, who scored 23 points along with six rebounds and two steals.
Columbus' win bumped their record up to 25-4. As for Evans, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won eight of their last nine matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 20-9 record this season.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
