Basketball Recap: Thijson Heard's Big Game Can't Quite Lead Metro-East Lutheran over Mater Dei

Metro-East Lutheran was not able to break out of their rough patch on Wednesday as the team picked up their third straight defeat. The game between them and the Mater Dei Knights didn't end well, with the Metro-East Lutheran Knights falling 47-30. The match marked Metro-East Lutheran's lowest-scoring contest so far this season.

Several Knights players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Thijson Heard, who posted 12 points. That was a full 40% of Metro-East Lutheran's points, marking the third time in a row he's scored more than a third of the team's points. Junior Brown was another key player, putting up eight points.

Mater Dei got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Gavin Peppenhorst out in front who went 6 for 10 en route to 12 points along with seven rebounds and four blocks. Those four blocks gave Peppenhorst a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Jared Hemker, who put up 13 points and seven boards.

Metro-East Lutheran's loss dropped their record down to 10-8. As for Mater Dei, they have been performing well recently as they've won nine of their last 11 games, which provided a nice bump to their 14-8 record this season.

Metro-East Lutheran will head out to take on Collinsville at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. As for Mater Dei, they will take on Mascoutah in a tournament on Saturday. Mater Dei is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 51.7 points per game this season.