Basketball Game Preview: Thales Academy Apex Titans vs. Grace Christian Crusaders

Thales Academy Apex is 0-8 against Grace Christian since February of 2018 but things could change on Friday. The Thales Academy Apex Titans will challenge the Grace Christian Crusaders at 8:00 p.m. After both made easy work of their previous opponents, one won't be so lucky on Friday.

Thales Academy Apex is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They really took it to Carolina Friends for the full four quarters, racking up a 67-37 win. The contest was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point the Titans had established a 23 point advantage.

Meanwhile, Grace Christian had already won four in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 29.5 points) and they went ahead and made it five on Thursday. They breezed by the Thunder to the tune of 82-53. Given the Crusaders' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 140th, while the Thunder are ranked 300th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Grace Christian's win came from a few key players Thales Academy Apex will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Kaedyn Cole, who posted 18 points. Grant Jacques was another key player, putting up 15 points.

Grace Christian is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last eight matches, which provided a nice bump to their 7-5 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 73.9 points per game. As for Thales Academy Apex, the victory made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 3-8.

Thales Academy Apex was taken down by Grace Christian 101-71 when the teams last played back in January of 2024. Can Thales Academy Apex avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.