Basketball Recap: Jackson Day Comes Up Short

Jackson Day lost against Valor Preparatory Academy back in January of 2024 and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Tuesday. The Jackson Day Mariners were just a bucket shy of victory and fell 59-58 to the Valor Preparatory Academy Owls.

Makai McKnight

Points (Career)

02/11/25 @ Valor Preparatory Academy	24
12/10/24 vs Langtree Charter Academy	16
11/19/24 vs Mountain Island Charter	16
12/04/24 @ Cherryville	15
11/05/24 @ Bradford Prep	15

Despite the defeat, Jackson Day saw an underclassman step up: freshman Makai McKnight went 10-for-16 to rack up 24 points. The dominant performance gave McKnight a new career-high in points. The team also got some help courtesy of Tradyn Phillips, who posted 11 points and eight rebounds.

Jackson Day's loss dropped their record down to 5-17. As for Valor Preparatory Academy, their win was their first in the conference, bumping their conference record up to 1-7 and their overall record up to 7-16.

The teams didn't have to wait long for a rematch: Jackson Day beat Valor Preparatory Academy by a score of 73-69 on Wednesday.