After suffering losses to Williamsburg and Annville, Cumberland headed home to take on the London Christian Academy Eagles in a crosstown rival conference matchup at Grace on the Hill Thursday evening. After the away game in November was cancelled by London due to equipment discrepancies, the Blazers were fired up and ready to take on the Eagles at home and sent London packing with a final score of 62-55.

Cumberland took the tip and scored for an early two followed by some back and forth scoring. After early in the first period, however, the Eagles never took the lead again. Up by one at the end of the first, Cumberland outscored London 19-13 in the second to head into halftime with a 7 point advantage. The Eagles pushed hard in the third to outscore the Blazers 11-8. But it wasn’t enough as Cumberland went on to outscore London 19-16 in the fourth to finish out a solid win.

“We had a starter [Pilarski] get injured and had a few rough games trying to figure out how to fill that gap. I think it really helped us overall to figure out how to play better as a team,” said head coach Justin Hensley after Thursday’s game. “The guys have always seen London as a big rival and that helps them get fired up. The fans were great tonight and really made it a fun game. The guys followed Micah [Stargel] who was sick and still gave it his all and so they all played hard, stuck with it, and made it count. Great game overall. I’m hoping this gives us some momentum for this weekend.”

Tanner Pilarski, back in action after the ankle injury in the Nelson game, put in 33 for the Blazers. Shane Jung added 13. Seth Gilpin and Trevor Schooley led the Eagles with 29 and 18 respectively.

Cumberland (7-15,4-8) will travel to Oakdale Christian Academy on Saturday for a three-game round-robin matchup against Mt. Carmel, Faith, and Oakdale. First tip against Mt. Carmel is at 10am. The Blazers then return home to take on Madison next Thursday for a 7pm tip.

Cumberland Homeschool Athletic Teams, Inc is a 501c3 nonprofit organization designed to provide opportunities for K-12 student athletes to participate in competitive athletics principally in the Cumberland Valley region of Southeast Kentucky.