“Eastern Guilford Wins Handily 82-62 to Advance to the 4th Round of the NCHSAA State Playoffs”
(Courtesy of Tommy Michaels with GreensboroSports.com)
Tonight was the battle of the “Easts” as The Wildcats of Eastern Guilford battled the The Eastern Alamance Eagles. The Wildcats would wind up winning 82-62. Jaylen Alston and Montez Venable combined for 50 points to lead the Wildcats.
The first frame started out with Venable scoring 4 quick points and the Wildcats never looked back. The Eagles were held to 13 points in the frame thanks to some gritty defense by the Wildcats that would continue throughout the game.
The second frame was more of the same, as Eastern Guilford continued to keep their foot on the gas as five different Wildcats scored. The Eagles were out scored 23-14 and the Wildcats went into the locker room up 43-27.
After the half the Eagles came out of the locker room looking to cut the lead. They went on a 7 to 2 run thanks to Hayden Mann and Ce’Darius Williams. They would continue to climb back and seemed to have the Wildcats out of rhythm. The lead would be cut to 10 as Mann hit a three at the buzzer and the Eagles would go into the forth down 60-50.
The Eagles would cut the lead to 9 after the start of the fourth but the the Wildcats came roaring back with a run of their own. Alston and Ramal Patterson would have back-to-back thunderous slams to put the Wildcats up by 18 with 4 minutes left. Eastern Guilford then ran the clock out and came away winning 82-62.
Mann was the high scorer for Eastern Alamance coming away with 19 as Williams had 17.
The Wildcats now travel to North Nash as they look to face advance to the fourth round of the playoffs. The Wildcats will be a tough out as they play team ball and seem to come away with good shots. Pair that with their tenacious defense and they are hard to beat.
Box Score:
Eastern Guilford
Q1: 20
Q2: 43
Q3: 60
Q4: 82
Eastern Alamance
Q1: 13
Q2: 27
Q3: 50
Q4: 62
Scoring
Eastern Guilford
Jaylen Alston: 30pts
Montez Venable: 20pts
Ramal Patterson: 14pts
Jaden Nesbitt: 8pts
Dominique Graves: 5pts
Nic Cheeley: 5pts
Eastern Alamance
Hayden Mann: 19pts
Ce’Darius Williams: 17pts
Jeremiah Alston: 7pts
Tre Thompson: 6pts
Dan Murray: 5pts
Bryan Jenkins: 3pts
Rasheed Reams: 3pts
DJ Bradsher: 2pts