Recap: St. Joseph Academy Crusaders vs. Rock Academy Warriors
After a string of five wins, the St. Joseph Academy Crusaders's good fortune finally ran out on Friday. They were just a bucket shy of victory and fell 41-40 to Rock Academy. St. Joseph Academy was given a dose of their own medicine in this game as Rock Academy apparently hadn't forgotten their defeat the last time these teams played back in November of 2021.
Despite the loss, St. Joseph Academy still got an impressive performance from Angel Ochoa, who scored 22 points along with three steals. That was a full 55% of St. Joseph Academy's points, marking the 15th time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Dominick Gale was another key contributor, scoring four points along with five rebounds and three steals.
Rock Academy's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was David Whitley, who scored 13 points along with eight rebounds and five assists. Whitley hasn't dropped below two blocks for four straight games. The team also got some help courtesy of Liam Landes, who scored 14 points along with six rebounds.
St. Joseph Academy's defeat dropped their record down to 11-8. As for Rock Academy, they have been performing well recently as they've won six of their last eight contests, which provided a nice bump to their 11-7 record this season.
St. Joseph Academy will head out on the road to challenge Pacific Ridge at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Pacific Ridge will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps California Rankings (they are ranked 1137th, while St. Joseph Academy is ranked 449th). As for Rock Academy, they will be playing in front of their home fans against Army-Navy at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Army-Navy is coming into the matchup hot, having won their last three games.
