Preview: Mt. Carmel Sundevils vs. St. Joseph Academy Crusaders
The Mt. Carmel Sundevils will be home for the holidays to greet the St. Joseph Academy Crusaders at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Given that the two teams suffered a loss in their last game, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this match.
Mt. Carmel unfortunately witnessed the end of their three-game winning streak on Friday. They lost to Mission Bay on the road by a decisive 61-45 margin. While losing is never fun, Mt. Carmel can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 518th, while Mission Bay is ranked 89th).
Loss or not, Mt. Carmel got some senior leadership from Gianni Bernabe who scored 17 points and Raymond Hourani who scored 11 points along with nine rebounds. The matchup was Hourani's third in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Jimmy Milder, who scored seven points.
Meanwhile, St. Joseph Academy pushed their score all the way to 60 on Wednesday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They fell 72-60 to Sage Creek.
The losing side was boosted by Angel Ochoa, who scored 36 points. He scored a full 60% of St. Joseph Academy's points, the eighth time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Thaddeus Yuhas, who scored seven points.
Mt. Carmel's defeat dropped their record down to 4-6. As for St. Joseph Academy, they have been struggling recently, as they've lost three of their last four games, which put a noticeable dent in their 5-4 record this season.
Thursday's match is shaping up to be a scrappy game: Mt. Carmel have been smashing the glass this season, having only averaged 28 rebounds per game. It's a different story for St. Joseph Academy, though, as they've been averaging only 18.2 rebounds per game. Given Mt. Carmel's sizeable advantage in that area, St. Joseph Academy will need to find a way to close that gap. Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other basketball content.
