Basketball Recap: Asheville Takes a Loss

Asheville was not able to break out of their rough patch on Friday as the team picked up their third straight defeat. They came up short against the McDowell Titans, falling 86-63. While losing is never fun, the Cougars can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 491st, while the Titans are ranked 88th).

Andre Thomas

Points

02/07/25 vs McDowell	24
02/04/25 vs T.C. Roberson	21
01/31/25 @ A.C. Reynolds	16
01/29/25 vs Enka	26
01/28/25 @ Erwin	16
+ 2 more games

Despite the loss, Asheville still got an impressive performance from Andre Thomas, who went 11 of 22 en route to 24 points. Thomas' evening made it seven games in a row in which he has scored at least 16 points. Another player making a difference was Elijah Cox, who went 5 for 11 on his way to 13 points and four steals.

Derrick Forney Jr was nothing short of spectacular for McDowell: he posted 33 points. The dominant performance gave Forney Jr a new career-high in points. Kyson Rinnert was another key player, putting up 16 points.

Asheville's loss dropped their record down to 4-18. As for McDowell, the victory was the fourth in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 19-2.

Both teams will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Asheville will challenge North Buncombe at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. One thing working in North Buncombe's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points every time they've taken the court this season. As for McDowell, they will take on Erwin at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Erwin is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 63.8 points per game this season.