Sports
Eastern Pulls Off Stunning Upset At Home
By: Nate Moore
Posted on:
What a game, what a night, and what a time to be an Eastern Eagle. Throughout a long season each team is bound to have one or two memorable moments where everything comes together.
In their match-up tonight against the division leading Waterford Wildcats, the Eastern Eagles were able to pull off the upset with a 54-46 victory.
When entering the Eastern gym tonight, every person could feel the electricity, energy, and anticipation that surrounded this game. As soon as the first quarter began both teams played physical, grind-it-out basketball to gain the advantage on their opponent.
Eastern would score the first basket of the game but it would be Waterford to respond and jump out to an early 14-5 lead.
While the game progressed, it became apparent that the game was going to be dominated on the defensive side of the ball.
For Eastern, the whole team followed Coach Hill’s defensive game plan to perfection as they racked up a total 12 steals. The game would go into a halftime highly contested with a score of 25-19.
In the second half, both teams continued their stout defensive performances. However, Eastern’s offense was able to drive into the paint and draw fouls from the Waterford defenders.
The Eagles would outshoot the Wildcats at the free throw line by a whopping margin of 31-6, making 17 of them in the process.
The Eastern players who really stepped up on offense were forwards Isaiah Fish, Garret Berringer, and Kaleb Hill.
Out of the 54 points that Eastern scored, 37 of them came from the three players. Hill added another double-double to his career with 12 points and 10 rebounds, Barringer hit the game-tying jump shot with 2.7 seconds left to force overtime, and Fish dropped 12 points while playing clutch minutes in overtime.
In overtime the Wildcats would try to take away the momentum the Eagles had built up to that point. However, due to foul trouble, the Wildcats were forced to limit their aggressiveness on defense, leading to more open scoring opportunities for the Eagles.
Eastern would finally take back the lead with 2:48 left in overtime and the Eagles never looked back as they hit free throw after free throw to seal the victory.
When the final buzzer went off, the energy in the gym was at an all-time high as both fans, coaches, and players celebrated the massive upset.
This Eastern team is no pushover, and as proven on the right night the Eagles have the ability to upset anyone they face.
As the season continues make sure to pay attention to Eastern as they look to continue their momentum into their next match-up against South Gallia.
It’ll be interesting to see how the boys out in Reedsville will respond to such a major victory.