Basketball Recap: Cardinal Gibbons Comes Up Short

Cardinal Gibbons lost against Sanderson last Tuesday, and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Saturday. The Cardinal Gibbons Crusaders took a hard 68-51 fall against the Sanderson Spartans. While losing is never fun, the Crusaders can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 61st, while the Spartans are ranked 16th).

Cash McSweeney

Rebounds

12/14/24 vs White Oak	23
12/21/24 vs Southern Wake Academy	17
12/03/24 @ Ravenscroft	17
01/27/25 vs Broughton	16
01/09/25 vs Enloe	15
+ 21 more games

When it comes to explaining why Cardinal Gibbons lost, don't look at Cash McSweeney. Despite the final result, he dropped a double-double with 20 points and 12 boards. McSweeney has become a key player for Cardinal Gibbons: the team is 14-6 when he posts at least ten rebounds, but 2-4 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of Damon Phillips, who posted 14 points.

Sanderson was led to victory by Nathan Fife and Gordie Balas. Fife en route to 26 points, while Balas on his way to 15 points and six boards. The match was Fife's fifth in a row with at least 20 points. Mack Snavely was another key player, putting up seven points.

Cardinal Gibbons' defeat dropped their record down to 16-10. As for Sanderson, the win was the ninth in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 23-3.

Cardinal Gibbons didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next contest, an 81-77 victory against Broughton on the 25th. As for Sanderson, they also wasted no time getting back out on the court and have already played their next game, a 69-42 win against Middle Creek on the 25th.