With region play nearing its end, the Eastside Eagles boys basketball team has found itself on the end of a long stretch of quality play.

The Eagles lost their last time out to the reigning region champion North Oconee Titans, but the defeat came after an eight-game win streak.

During that span, the Eagles took on top teams from Kentucky and Maryland before they returned to the Peach State to take down strong region foes.

From Dec. 29-31, the Eagles took on three teams at the Smokey Mtn. Classic in Gatlinburg, Tenn.

The first game was against Warren Central(15-3), and a close loss set the tone for what came next.

“We were playing the No. 1 team out of Kentucky. We saw film and felt good about our chances. We could have won, but we did succumb to turnovers,” said head coach Dorrian Randolph. “A little out of character for some guys. I had to make a few decisions about sitting guys based on character issues that arose. That set the message for the rest of the tournament. We lost by 10, but we were down by two at one point. 

“It set the tempo for the next two days. I was very upset, the players knew it. I did not have any discussion with them that night, I let everyone go to their room, I was in my room and didn't answer any phone calls from players. They got a sense of how disappointed I was that we lost the game. The next day we played another team out of Kentucky and won by 30.”

Grant County(13-8) was on the receiving end of a 61-31 result that kickstarted a long run of wins for the Eagles.

Eastside dealt a loss to South River to close out the tournament before the team returned home.

From there, the Eagles were greeted with four straight region games — four straight region wins.

During this stretch, Randolph received strong play from his backcourt of Javon and Roman Sullivan, Iverson Freeman, Josiah Johnson and Jordan Poole.

Each player had specific games where they controlled the pace and led the team — a dynamic that Randolph attributed to the program’s culture.

“On any given night it could be any given person amongst those five,” Randolph said. “That is very telling, it makes it hard to prepare when you don’t necessarily have to prepare for just one guy. The thing with these guys is that I have had them for at least three years. They came in and were able to see how things were with the previous teams and I stayed somewhat the same. They gravitate to the culture early on, and now it's their time to not be the follower, but be the leader.”

Randolph noted how brothers, Roman and Jevon, have used their own sibling rivalry to push themselves to become starters.

Now that they have pushed themselves and each other, Randolph noticed a change in how the two players approach each practice and game.

“Now that Jevon has been told that little brother is better, he upped his game,” Randolph said. “In practice we set it up. We have 10 players so everyone has a matchup, it’s how we practice. You compete against your matchup. For them it's for more minutes, or just keeping each other sharp. It goes beyond just Jevon and Roman now because they are trying to compete against their particular matchup.”

While the likes of Roman, Jevon and Iverson have lit up the scoresheet in recent outings, Randolph's biggest compliment came on the defensive side of the court.

“They are giving more on the defensive end. We are keeping teams under 48 [points] on average… that’s always our goal each game,” Randolph said. “It thinks it's [everyone] wanting to win for the seniors that are getting ready to go out the door. They have been with those guys for a while, so it’s a collective team thing.”

While the backcourt has shined, Christian Gatewood’s presence in both the paint and in the mid-range has proven to be the spark for the 2025-26 Eagles basketball team.

Gatewood anticipated a bigger role this year, and the junior got it.

Whether it was going toe-to-toe with Graysons’ MJ Curry or battles against North Oconee’s bigs on the inside — Gatewood has proven to be the engine that has kept the Eagles going.

As big as his presence has been on the court, Randolph noted how the 6-foot-6 forward has had an even bigger presence off the court.

“All of the guys love him, he is a gentle giant. The respect on the court is where it’s at, but off the court he is just a goofy little kid,” Randolph joked. “He is working on the role of being a leader. We have had conversion on how he can be more of a leader off the court because he wants to win that much. He puts a lot on his shoulders because of who he is. He wants to be the one to bring attention from colleges to the school. He believes that if they see him, they’ll ultimately start to see his teammates and they will start to get noticed.”

The Eagles find themselves with an outside shot at Region 8-AAAA’s No. 1 spot with a pair of losses to North Oconee.

However, Eastside sits firmly in second place with four regular season games left on the slate. 

With only one more win, the Eagles would tie their win total from a year ago(16-12).