Preview: Grace Christian Warriors vs. Smith Mountain Lake Christian Academy Ospreys
The Grace Christian Warriors will face off against the Smith Mountain Lake Christian Academy Ospreys at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Grace Christian can now show off nine landslide victories after their most recent game on Tuesday. They breezed by Dayspring Christian Academy at home to the tune of 66-39. Winning may never get old, but Grace Christian sure is getting used to it with their third in a row.
Justin Hain and Patrick Wells were among the main playmakers for Grace Christian as the former dropped a double-double on 14 points and 11 rebounds and the latter scored 27 points along with six rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Wells has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Caleb Cashion, who scored eight points along with eight assists.
Meanwhile, with a playoff game on the line, Smith Mountain Lake Christian Academy rose to the challenge on Monday. They walked away with a 57-47 victory over the Bears.
Ethan Hahn was a one-man wrecking crew for Smith Mountain Lake Christian Academy as he scored 21 points along with three steals. Hahn has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last six times he's played. Zach Witcher was another key contributor, scoring 12 points along with seven rebounds.
Grace Christian pushed their record up to 15-8 with that victory, which was their fifth straight at home. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 68.8 points per game. As for Smith Mountain Lake Christian Academy, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight games, which provided a nice bump to their 16-6 record this season.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as Grace Christian and Smith Mountain Lake Christian Academy are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Grace Christian hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 56.2 points per game. However, it's not like Smith Mountain Lake Christian Academy struggles in that department as they've been averaging 55.3 points per game. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Grace Christian beat Smith Mountain Lake Christian Academy 46-37 when the teams last played back in December of 2021. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Smith Mountain Lake Christian Academy's Kendrick Davis, who scored 29 points along with five steals. Now that he won't be playing on Friday, will it be that much easier for Grace Christian to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
