Basketball Recap: Neuse Charter Comes Up Short

Neuse Charter managed to keep up with Lakewood until halftime on Tuesday, but things quickly went downhill from there. The Neuse Charter Cougars lost 73-48 to the Lakewood Leopards. While losing is never fun, the Cougars can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 524th, while the Leopards are ranked 217th).

Donolyjah Tyrell

Points (Career)

02/11/25 @ Lakewood	21
11/04/24 vs Research Triangle	17
01/14/25 @ North Duplin	16
01/31/25 vs North Duplin	15
12/26/24 vs Oxford Prep	11

Despite the loss, Neuse Charter still got an impressive performance from Donolyjah Tyrell, who dropped a double-double with 21 points and ten rebounds. Those 21 points gave Tyrell a new career-high. Klayton Tew was another key player, putting up 14 points.

Lakewood was led to victory by Xavier Hall and Nakai Owens. Hall dropped a double-double with 12 points and 14 boards, while Owens went 9-for-12 en route to 20 points. Hall is crushing it when it comes to rebounds: he's pulled down at least nine every time he's taken the court this season. Another player making a difference was Cameron Williams, who went 7-for-15 on his way to 16 points and six boards.

Neuse Charter now has a losing record of 11-12. As for Lakewood, the victory was the 18th in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 18-1.

The future could be bright for both Neuse Charter and Lakewood: their next opponents haven't had the best luck recently. Neuse Charter will try to hand Union their tenth-straight loss when the two meet at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Similarly, Lakewood will look to extend Rosewood's four-game losing streak when the meet at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.