Basketball Recap: Ziyon Smith's Big Game Can't Quite Lead Southeastern Christian Academy over New Garden Friends

It's hard to turn regular season success into postseason wins, a fact Southeastern Christian Academy can now relate to. They lost 67-42 to the New Garden Friends Bears on Saturday.

Ziyon Smith

Rebounds

02/15/25 @ New Garden Friends	13
02/13/25 vs Friendship Christian	12
02/07/25 vs Scotland Christian Academy	8
02/06/25 vs Dillon Christian	19
02/04/25 vs Southeastern HomeSchool	10
01/31/25 @ Wilmington Christian Academy	17

Several Warriors players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Ziyon Smith, who dropped a double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Smith is on a roll when it comes to boards, as he's now pulled down eight or more in each of the last six games he's played. Another player making a difference was Kaleb Young, who posted seven points and seven rebounds.

Even though they lost, Southeastern Christian Academy smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 18 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least nine offensive boards in six consecutive contests.

New Garden Friends' win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Curtis Russell, who dropped a double-double with 20 points and ten boards. Russell has become a key player for New Garden Friends: the team is undefeated when he posts at least ten rebounds, but 11-12 otherwise. Kingston Clifton was another key player, putting up 16 points and six steals.

Southeastern Christian Academy's loss was their third straight on the road, which dropped their record down to 13-12. As for New Garden Friends, they are on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last 11 matches, which provided a massive bump to their 14-12 record this season.

Southeastern Christian Academy does not have any more games scheduled as of now. As for New Garden Friends, they will take on Crossroads Christian at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. New Garden Friends knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 55 points or more in their past three games -- so hopefully Crossroads Christian likes a good challenge.