Preview: Union Academy Cardinals vs. Mount Pleasant Tigers
The Union Academy Cardinals will stay at home for another game and welcome the Mount Pleasant Tigers at 7:30 p.m. on January 23rd. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both teams will really light up the scoreboard on Tuesday.
Union Academy suffered their closest loss yet this season on Friday. They fell just short of South Stanly by a score of 61-58. While losing is never fun, Union Academy can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 537th, while South Stanly is ranked 220th).
Aidan Scruitsky put forth a good effort for the losing side as he scored 24 points along with five rebounds and two steals. Another player making a difference was Ethan Rangolan, who dropped a double-double on 11 points and ten rebounds.
Even though they lost, Union Academy were working as a unit and finished the game with ten assists. This was only their tenth loss (out of 13 games) when they've passed the ball that well.
Meanwhile, Mount Pleasant scored the most points they've had all season to find success on Friday. They walked away with a 79-68 victory over North Stanly. The win made it back-to-back wins for Mount Pleasant.
Union Academy has been struggling recently, as they've lost five of their last six matchups, which put a noticeable dent in their 3-13 record this season. As for Mount Pleasant, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matches, which provided a massive bump to their 7-9 record this season.
Union Academy didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Mount Pleasant in their previous meeting back in February of 2023, but they still walked away with a 78-74 win. Does Union Academy have another victory up their sleeve, or will Mount Pleasant turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
