The Wayne Hills Patriots came tearing into Tuesday's matchup with three straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 4 points) and they left with even more momentum. They came out on top against Lakeland Regional by a score of 68-56. Given Wayne Hills' advantage in MaxPreps' New Jersey basketball rankings (they are ranked 141st, while Lakeland Regional is ranked 308th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Despite the loss, Lakeland Regional still got an impressive performance from Noah Pagan, who dropped a double-double on 22 points and 13 rebounds. Justin Meakem was another key contributor, scoring eight points along with two steals.
Even though they lost, Lakeland Regional smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 13 offensive rebounds. This was only their tenth loss (out of 13 games) when they hit their own glass that hard.
Wayne Hills' win ended a three-game drought at home and bumped them up to 13-9. As for Lakeland Regional, they are on a three-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 4-14.
Wayne Hills will head out on the road to face off against Wayne Valley at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Wayne Valley knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with flashy point totals in its past seven matchups -- so hopefully Wayne Hills likes a good challenge. As for Lakeland Regional, they will be playing in front of their home fans against Passaic Valley at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Hopefully Lakeland Regional focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up ten on Tuesday.
