Preview: Apprentice Academy Red Wolves vs. Piedmont Community Charter Patriots
Apprentice Academy is 0-5 against Piedmont Community Charter since December of 2021 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Apprentice Academy Red Wolves' homestand continues as they prepare to take on the Piedmont Community Charter Patriots at 5:00 p.m. on February 16th. Apprentice Academy will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps North Carolina Rankings (they are ranked 666th, while Piedmont Community Charter is ranked 166th).
Last Thursday, Apprentice Academy took a serious blow against Sugar Creek, falling 89-30. The loss unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for Apprentice Academy in their matchups with Sugar Creek: they've now lost six in a row.
Radear Watson put forth a good effort for the losing side as he scored 20 points along with six rebounds and four steals. That was a full 66.7% of Apprentice Academy's points, marking the tenth time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Ayden Eddington, who scored six points along with two steals.
Meanwhile, Piedmont Community Charter had already won five in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 25 points), and they went ahead and made it six on Wednesday. They snuck past Bradford Prep with a 67-62 win. Having run the score up that high, both teams probably have some extra defensive drills coming up.
Piedmont Community Charter's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but John Carmichael led the charge by scoring 18 points along with six rebounds and five blocks. Carmichael hasn't dropped below two steals for five straight games. Xavier Wilcher was another key contributor, scoring 16 points along with six rebounds and five steals.
Apprentice Academy dropped their record down to 0-12 with that defeat, which was their third straight at home. As for Piedmont Community Charter, they are on a roll lately: they've won 15 of their last 16 games, which provided a nice bump to their 18-4 record this season.
Friday's match will pit two of the most dominant guards against one another: Watson and Bobby Erwin. Watson has been dynamite this season: he has averaged 17.9 points, 1.7 steals, and 1.1 blocks. For his part, Erwin has averaged 15.5 points, 1.5 steals, and 2.6 assists.
Apprentice Academy was taken down by Piedmont Community Charter 92-35 in their previous matchup back in January. That contest was all but decided by halftime, at which point Apprentice Academy was down 62-18.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
