By Thomas Grant Jr.
The undefeated start by the Ridge View boys basketball team has started to attract national attention.
Fresh off winning the prestigious Chick-fil-A Classic, the Blazers were ranked Jan. 3 by both Maxpreps.com and ESPN. They made a quantum leap from 80th to 7th in the Maxpreps.com Top 25 rankings and entered ESPN’s SCNext.com rankings at number 22.
The Blazers opened Region 5-4A play Friday with a victory over Lugoff-Elgin to improve to 15-0 on the season. Yale Davis led the way with 17 points, followed by Jayden Pretty with 13, Josh Smith with 11 and Korie Corbett with 10.
“Nothing new, just have to keep working and keep getting better,” Ridge View head coach Josh Staley said.
The Blazers have maintained their perfect standing despite a challenging schedule. This includes wins over in-state ranked opponents like Blythewood, North Augusta and W.J. Keenan and out-of-state nationally ranked teams like Grayson in the Chick-Fil-A Classic American Division final.
Ridge View embarks upon a 10-day, four-game schedule which will open Wednesday with defending Class 5A champion Irmo. Squeezed between Region 5-4A matchups with Westwood and A.C. Flora is a Jan. 15 “Champions vs. Champions” matchup with defending Class 2A titleholder Gray Collegiate at the MLK Bash at Eau Claire High School.
“Those challenging non-region games have us prepared for a strong region,” Staley said. “We just have to make sure the guys take preparation seriously every day.”
