The Eastside Eagles came tearing into Thursday's matchup with eight straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 18.9 points) and they left with even more momentum. They snuck past Blue Ridge with a 69-64 win. Given Eastside's advantage in MaxPreps' South Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 22nd, while Blue Ridge is ranked 163rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Justin Ray was his usual excellent self, scoring 28 points along with three steals. That makes it nine consecutive games in which he has scored at least 25% of Eastside's points. Another player making a difference was Matthew Roberts, who scored 20 points.
Blue Ridge's defeat shouldn't obscure the performances of Nash Somero, who scored 24 points, and Paul Bishop who scored 18 points. The game was Somero's 11th in a row with at least ten points. Nicklaus Poole was another key contributor, scoring three points along with six rebounds.
Even though they lost, Blue Ridge were working as a unit and finished the game with 20 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.
Eastside pushed their record up to 11-1 with that win, which was their fourth straight on the road. As for Blue Ridge, their defeat dropped their record down to 4-12.
Eastside will be playing in front of their home fans against Woodmont at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Woodmont has insisted on making their lastfour contests complete nail-biters, turning in a record of 4-0 during that stretch of close contests. As for Blue Ridge, they will head out on the road to face off against Berea at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Berea knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with flashy point totals in its past eight matchups -- so hopefully Blue Ridge likes a good challenge.
