Air Academy takes loss despite strong efforts from Noah Hellem and Max Howery

By Team Reports Dec 17, 2023, 4:36pm

Recap: Air Academy Kadets vs. Fossil Ridge Sabercats

The Air Academy Kadets fought the good fight in their overtime contest against the Fossil Ridge Sabercats on Saturday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell to the Sabercats 74-70. Despite running the score up even higher than they did on Friday (56), Air Academy still had to take the loss.

Air Academy's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Max Howery, who scored 34 points along with five assists and three steals, and Noah Hellem who scored 23 points along with six rebounds. The match was Hellem's sixth in a row with at least ten points.

Eli Nutting was his usual excellent self, dropping a double-double on 11 points and 15 rebounds for Fossil Ridge. Nutting set a new season high mark in blocks with two. Another player making a difference was Carter Gray, who scored 15 points.

Air Academy has fallen quite a ways from their 25-3 record last season and are now at 2-4. As for Fossil Ridge, the victory makes it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 5-1.

Air Academy and Douglas County will face off at 7:00 p.m. on December 12th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Douglas County is strutting with some offensive muscle, as they've averaged 58.7 points per game. As for Fossil Ridge, they will head out on the road to face off against St. Mary's at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The matchup should be an exciting one, as these teams are ranked near one another in their respective states (St. Mary's is ranked 53rd in Arizona, while Fossil Ridge is ranked 64th in Colorado).