Two dominant players in Zymiere Chester and Matthew Dillard are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Berry Cardinal will head out on the road to take on the Palisades Pumas at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Berry will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps North Carolina Rankings (they are ranked 393rd, while Palisades is ranked 136th).
Berry suffered their biggest loss since December 5, 2023 on Tuesday. They were outmatched by Myers Park at home and fell 79-35. Berry has struggled against Myers Park recently, as their game on Tuesday was their seventh consecutive lost matchup.
Meanwhile, a well-balanced attack led Palisades over West Mecklenburg in every quarter on their way to victory on Tuesday. Palisades strolled past West Mecklenburg with points to spare, taking the game 64-48.
Palisades' success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Brian Ngo led the charge by scoring 11 points along with five assists. Dillard was another key contributor, scoring ten points along with four steals.
Berry's defeat dropped their record down to 5-12. As for Palisades, they have been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four matches, which provided a nice bump to their 11-7 record this season.
Berry came up short against Palisades when the teams last played back in December of 2023, falling 68-59. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Palisades' Kendric Davis, who scored 15 points. Now that Berry knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
