Basketball Game Preview: Rock Academy Warriors vs. Crawford Colts

The Rock Academy Warriors will take on the Crawford Colts in a tournament on Thursday. Rock Academy is looking for their season's first victory.

Rock Academy is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They took a 71-60 hit to the loss column at the hands of Mar Vista on Thursday.

Rock Academy might have lost, but man, James Whitley was a machine: he dropped a double-double on 29 points and ten boards. That was a full 48.3% of Rock Academy's points, marking the seventh time in a row he's posted more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was Quentin Uhland, who earned 11 points along with eight rebounds and three steals.

Even though they lost, Rock Academy smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 16 offensive boards. That's the most offensive rebounds they've posted since back in January.

While Crawford didn't have the best season last year (they finished 12-16), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past. They were the clear victor by a 76-52 margin over Santana on Thursday. The Colts have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won four matches by 20 points or more this season.

Rock Academy better focus on containing Mickelson Laguerre and Keontae Lewis as the pair were huge in Crawford's win. Laguerre put up 18 points in addition to eight rebounds and four steals, while Lewis went 8 of 14 on his way to 21 points. Laguerre is crushing it when it comes to steals: he's grabbed at least two every time he's taken the court this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Cameron Walker, who posted 13 points.

Rock Academy's defeat dropped their record down to 0-9. As for Crawford, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 8-1.

Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Rock Academy has been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 23.8 boards per game. However, it's not like Crawford struggles in that department as they've been averaging 28.7 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other basketball content.