Basketball Recap: Lovejoy Comes Up Short

Lovejoy was not able to break out of their rough patch on Monday as the team picked up their fifth straight defeat. They were three points away from ending the streak, but they lost a 45-42 heartbreaker at the hands of the Midtown Knights. While losing is never fun, the Wildcats can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Georgia basketball rankings (they are ranked 254th, while the Knights are ranked 98th).

When it comes to explaining why Lovejoy lost, don't look at Noah Banks. Despite the final result, he went 5 of 10 on his way to 15 points and three steals. Javion Barkley was another key player, putting up nine points.

Zuri Mesquitte went supernova for Midtown, dropping a double-double on 16 points and 14 rebounds. The dominant performance gave Mesquitte a new career-high in points. Another player making a difference was Dhati Lewis, who went 5 for 12 en route to 11 points.

Lovejoy now has a losing record at 9-10. As for Midtown, they have been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 13-6 record this season.

Lovejoy has already played their next contest (against Dutchtown), but no score has been uploaded at the time of writing. Midtown will face off against Creekside at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Midtown is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 69.2 points per game this season.