Basketball Recap: Cooper City Takes a Loss

After flying high against Nova last Tuesday, Cooper City came back down to earth. The Cooper City Cowboys were beaten by the Western Wildcats 97-65 on Thursday. While losing is never fun, the Cowboys can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 229th, while the Wildcats are ranked 28th).

Cooper City lost despite a true team effort on offense, the best among them being Jamier Johnston, who went 5 for 8 en route to 17 points in addition to six rebounds and three steals. The match was Johnston's fourth in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Noah Rupert, who dropped a double-double on 15 points and ten boards.

The loss snapped Cooper City's winning streak at four games and leaves them with a 9-9 record. As for Western, they pushed their record up to 17-5 with the win, which was their fifth straight at home.

Cooper City won't have much time to rest: their next game is against American Heritage at 3:30 p.m. on Friday. Cooper City knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 55 points or more in their past five contests -- so hopefully American Heritage likes a good challenge. As for Western, a feisty cat fight is on tap when the Western Wildcats challenge the Chaminade-Madonna Lions at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.