Basketball Recap: Van Alstyne Comes Up Short

Van Alstyne was not able to break out of their rough patch on Friday as the team picked up their ninth straight defeat. They took a hard 72-58 fall against the Panther Creek Panthers. Unfortunately, that's the second time they've come up short against Panther Creek this season, as they also lost their prior matchup 75-39 back in January.

DJ Mansel

Rebounds (Career)

01/31/25 vs Panther Creek	13
12/05/24 vs Mexia	12
01/11/25 vs Lake Dallas	11
12/20/24 @ Ranchview	10
12/28/24 vs Nacogdoches	9

Despite the loss, Van Alstyne still got an impressive performance from DJ Mansel, who dropped a double-double with 17 points and 13 boards. The dominant performance gave Mansel a new career-high in rebounds. Another player making a difference was Garrett Skaggs, who went 5-for-10 to rack up 13 points.

Leading Panther Creek to victory were SABIEN MCGRAW and JAELEN BLOCK-HILL. MCGRAW went 6-for-14 en route to 19 points along with seven boards and three steals, while BLOCK-HILL went 5-for-9 on his way to 15 points and eight rebounds. Thanks to that strong game, MCGRAW now owns an excellent 40.4% three-point shooting accuracy. XAVIER RAINWATER was another key player, putting up eight points.

Van Alstyne's loss dropped their record down to 7-23. As for Panther Creek, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 15 of their last 16 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 23-8 record this season.

Van Alstyne wasted no time getting back out on the court and has already played their next game, a 72-48 defeat against Lake Dallas on the 4th. As for Panther Creek, they also didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next contest, a 93-59 victory against Aubrey on the 4th.