Basketball Recap: Boone Takes Loss Despite Strong Efforts from Makauri Massey and Joan Orta

Boone lost against Olympia back in December of 2021 and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Friday. The Boone Braves fell to the Olympia Titans 70-66. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on Thursday (55), the Braves still had to take the loss.

Boone's loss came despite strong showings from Joan Orta and Makauri Massey. Orta went 6 of 12 on his way to 15 points and five rebounds, while Massey posted 19 points. Orta's evening made it three games in a row in which he has scored at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Connor Summer, who earned seven points and five boards.

Even though they lost, Boone was working as a unit and finished the game with 17 assists. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 5.6 assists per game earlier this season, but in their last 15 games they've averaged 11.5.

Olympia's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Nicholas Blake led the charge by going 7 for 13 from beyond the arc en route to 21 points and six rebounds. That's the most boards Blake has posted since back in December of 2024. The team also got some help courtesy of James Nowells, who went 5 of 12 on his way to 21 points.

With the defeat, Boone broke their three-game winning streak and moved their record to 10-12. As for Olympia, they have been performing well recently as they've won ten of their last 13 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 14-8 record this season.

Both teams will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Boone will square off against Astronaut at 7:30 p.m. on Monday. One thing working in Boone's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points in their last 12 contests. As for Olympia, they will take on Apopka at 7:30 p.m. on Monday. Olympia is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 61.5 points per game this season.