Preview: Rootstown Rovers vs. Aquinas Knights
Rootstown is 0-6 against Aquinas since January of 2021 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Rootstown Rovers will head out on the road to take on the Aquinas Knights at 7:00 p.m. The squads are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Rootstown has struggled recently with nine defeats in a row, while Aquinas will arrive with three straight wins.
Rootstown suffered their biggest loss yet this season on Tuesday. They were dealt a 88-42 loss at the hands of John F. Kennedy Catholic. Rootstown was in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 55-26.
Meanwhile, winning is just a little bit easier when you work as a team to rack up nine more assists than your opponent, a fact Aquinas proved on Saturday. They walked away with a 59-51 victory over Southeast.
Bronson Gilyard continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, scoring 26 points along with two steals. He is on a roll when it comes to points, as he's now scored 15 or more in the last five games he's played. Jeremy Thomas was another key contributor, scoring nine points.
Rootstown dropped their record down to 2-11 with that loss, which was their fifth straight on the road. As for Aquinas, their win bumped their record up to 7-5.
Rootstown came up short against Aquinas when the teams last played back in December of 2023, falling 46-42. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Gilyard, who scored 22 points along with four steals. Now that Rootstown knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
