Basketball Preview: Royal Live Oaks Academy Royal Knights vs. Whale Branch Warriors
Royal Live Oaks Academy is 0-4 against the Warriors since January of 2023 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Monday. The Royal Live Oaks Academy Royal Knights will be playing in front of their home fans against the Whale Branch Warriors at 6:30 p.m. The timing isn't great for Royal Live Oaks Academy: they have been struggling with seven straight losses at home dating back to last season, while the Warriors have snatched up three consecutive wins on the road.
After soaring to 63 points the game before, Royal Live Oaks Academy were a bit more limited in their contest on Friday. They were beaten by Bridges Prep 86-15. While losing is never fun, Royal Live Oaks Academy can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' South Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 252nd, while the Buccaneers are ranked 117th).
Meanwhile, Whale Branch pushed their score all the way to 57 on Monday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They fell to Bamberg-Ehrhardt 61-57. Whale Branch found out winning isn't easy when your three-point shooting is a whole 27% worse than the opposition.
Despite the loss, Whale Branch had strong showings from Kevin Jenkins, who scored 17 points along with eight rebounds, and Greggory Gilbert, who scored 14 points along with six rebounds and three blocks. Another player making a difference was Bradford Thompson, who scored six points along with three steals.
Royal Live Oaks Academy's loss dropped their record down to 2-7-1. As for Whale Branch, their loss ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 13-9.
Royal Live Oaks Academy was dealt a bruising 76-11 loss at the hands of the Warriors in their previous matchup back in January. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Thompson, who dropped a double-double on 16 points and 11 rebounds. Now that Royal Live Oaks Academy knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
