COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Eastmoor Academy (5-1, 4-0) used unselfish play and balanced scoring to knock Africentric (5-1, 3-1) from the ranks of the undefeated, defeating the Nubians 57-50 on Friday. Senior guards Taevion Kinsey and Tripp Hopkins led the way with 16 points each for the contest, while combining for 13 points in a huge second quarter for the Warriors.

Things started slowly for Eastmoor who fell behind 13-5 after the first quarter. That quarter was dominated by 6-foot-8 Kentucky State signee Jah Bennett, who had seven points and two blocks early. Bennett finished the half with nine points, six rebounds and four blocks.

The Warriors finally found their stride against the changing defenses of Africentric coach Michael Bates in the second quarter. Eastmoor's guards scored all but two points of their points in the quarter and held speedy Africentric guard and Minnesota State signee Tre Baumgardner lll to one basket. Hopkins added in seven of those points in the quarter and displayed his best offensive game to date, coming into the game only averaging four points per game. The Warriors outscored Africentric 20-8 for the quarter, and jumped to a 25-21 lead at the half.

Coach Jim Miranda's team showed why they are one of the best coached teams in the district in the third quarter, as they outscored the Nubians 14-10 in the third quarter. They did so by controlling the pace, cutting down on turnovers and running their offense carefully trying to get the ball into the post.  Despite their best efforts, the trio of Eastmoor’s Stanley Williams, Tariq Brown, and Isaiah Hairston still only managed to combine for nine points on the game against the hard-nosed Nubian defense in the lane, led by Bennett.

Hopkins led the way offensively again in the third quarter with five points, as the Warriors increased their lead to 39-31, owning the middle two quarters 34-18.

With eight minutes left in the game, Baumgartner began to come alive. His defense picked up, he began to force the issue, pushing the ball up the floor and the made shots that had eluded him all night began to drop.

Behind the scrappy guard play of Baumgardner, who scored 11 of the Nubian's 19 points in the fourth quarter, Africentric pulled to 51-47 with just under 30 seconds remaining in the game.

However, Eastmoor would refuse to crumble as 5-foot-7 guard Randy Olverson would ice the game making all six of his free throws in the final minute. Olverson was as cool and calm as he was hitting the game-winning free throws on Tuesday night, finishing with 13 points in Friday night’s win over Africentric.

With the win, the Warriors have deemed themselves as the team to beat in the City League's South Division, after a huge week of wins over arguably their biggest divisional rivals. 

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