Preview: Knoxville Catholic Fighting Irish vs. Maryville Red Rebels
Knoxville Catholic and Maryville are an even 4-4 against one another since February of 2015, but not for long. The Knoxville Catholic Fighting Irish are on the road again on Friday and play against the Maryville Red Rebels at 8:00 p.m. on December 15th. Knoxville Catholic has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 406 points over their last six matchups.
Even though St. Francis scored an imposing 66 points on Saturday, Knoxville Catholic still came out on top. Knoxville Catholic walked away with a 79-66 win over St. Francis. Given Knoxville Catholic's advantage in MaxPreps's basketball rankings in their respective home states (they are ranked 23rd in Tennessee, while St. Francis is ranked 212th in Georgia), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Cade Murphy and Juice Eleam were among the main playmakers for Knoxville Catholic as the former scored 21 points along with 8 rebounds and 6 assists and the latter scored 23 points along with 7 rebounds. The contest was Murphy's fourth in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Carson Asbaty, who scored 14 points along with 5 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Maryville put another one in the bag on Thursday to keep their perfect season alive. They managed a 68-64 win over Sevier County. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
Knoxville Catholic's victory bumped their record up to 7-1. As for Maryville, they pushed their record up to 7-0 with that victory, which was their fourth straight on the road.
Knoxville Catholic was able to grind out a solid win over Maryville in their previous meeting back in February of 2019, winning 78-65. Does Knoxville Catholic have another victory up their sleeve, or will Maryville turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
