Basketball Recap: Hammond Now 8-1 over Last Nine Games

Hammond hadn't done well against Cardinal Newman recently (they were 1-8 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Friday. The Hammond Skyhawks took down the Cardinal Newman Cardinals 55-36. This was payback for the Skyhawks, who suffered a 51-43 loss the last time these two teams met.

Despite the defeat, Cardinal Newman saw an underclassman step up: sophomore Luis Echevarria went 7 of 14 on his way to 20 points and five rebounds. That was a full 55.6% of Cardinal Newman's points, marking the fourth time in a row he's posted more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was Wade Marsh, who had 12 points.

Hammond is on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine contests, which provided a nice bump to their 10-2 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 61.3 points per game. As for Cardinal Newman, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 8-8.

Hammond will challenge Gray Collegiate Academy at 1:30 p.m. on Monday. Both teams are coming into the game red-hot, with Gray Collegiate Academy sitting on three straight victories and Hammond on six. As for Cardinal Newman, they will head out on the road to challenge Ben Lippen at 3:30 p.m. on Monday. Ben Lippen knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 55 points or more in their past 15 matchups -- so hopefully Cardinal Newman likes a good challenge.