Basketball Recap: Ryan Nelson's Big Game Can't Quite Lead Pinnacle over O'connor

Pinnacle was not able to break out of their rough patch on Wednesday as the team picked up their fourth straight defeat. They took a 69-59 hit to the loss column at the hands of the O'Connor Eagles. While losing is never fun, the Pioneers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Arizona basketball rankings (they are ranked 80th, while the Eagles are ranked fifth).

Several Pioneers players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Ryan Nelson, who went 5 for 11 en route to 14 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Kareem Alkhalifa, who went 6 of 10 on his way to 17 points.

Pinnacle's loss dropped their record down to 4-12. As for O'Connor, they are on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four games, which provided a nice bump to their 13-7 record this season.

Pinnacle wasted no time getting back out on the court and has already played their next matchup, an 88-74 victory against Mountain Ridge on the 24th. O'Connor has also already played their next contest (against Valley Vista), but no score has been uploaded at the time of writing.