By BRIAN TORTELLA

Correspondent

VOORHEES — Damien Edwards and Max Portnoy have been Eastern’s deadly combo throughout the course of the previous two seasons. Both are 1,000-point scorers, and the seniors have scored a combined 2,288 points in their careers.

So when one of the hottest teams in the Shore Conference — Central Regional — took a 47-mile trip to Voorhees for the South Jersey group 4 semifinal, the Golden Eagles knew the plan all along: stop the duo, win the game.

Or so they thought.

Eastern junior Kaedon Harper knew he needed to step up.

He did exactly that in Eastern’s 59-48 victory over Central Regional in the South Jersey Group 4 semifinal round on Wednesday night. 

The 6-foot-1 shooting guard tallied a career-high 21 points while being nicely accommodated by Portnoy and Edwards — who scored 17 and 16 points, respectively, en route to the convincing victory.

“I realized that they keyed on Max (Portnoy) and Damien (Edwards) only,” Harper said. “That’s when I had to step up. If they just pressed them and I didn’t step up, we would’ve lost that game. We’re a solid trio.”

A solid trio could be an understatement for what was demonstrated. They accounted for 54 of Eastern’s 59 points.

“We all have our strengths,” said primary offensive weapon Edwards. “Everyone has a role. Kaedon stepped up and knew his role. Max always does his thing, getting to the bucket while finding others, and I just do me — shoot.”

As you get further into a season, teams often start to have to dig into their depth chart for obvious reasons. No one knows that better than Eastern coach Kevin Crawford, who is in his 22nd season coaching high school basketball. He was nothing short of impressed with Harper’s play on Wednesday night.

“They’re all very good players,” Crawford said. “Max can do everything, guard the post, play point guard, shoot the jump shot, while Damien is the best shooter I’ve ever coached in my 22 years coaching high school basketball. Kaedon Harper is coming on big time. He’s come on a little bit stronger. He twisted his ankle and missed the last Lenape game, so we’re excited to have him back for the next Lenape game.”

Eastern will travel to top-seeded Lenape for a highly anticipated rematch after falling 52-48 to them back on Feb. 1. The No. 2 Vikings travel to Lenape on Friday at 6 p.m. with a sectional championship on the line.

Coach Crawford kept it simple when asked about the upcoming challenge.

“We’re excited for the opportunity,” he said. “We’ll let our play speak for itself.”

Brian Tortella is a correspondent for South Jersey Glory Days. Follow him on Twitter @tortreports.