The Rock Academy Warriors will face off against the Crawford Colts at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Rock Academy is looking for their season's first victory.
Rock Academy came up into this matchup off a tough 48-point loss on Friday. This time they kept things ultra-competitive, but unfortunately the final result was the same. They fell just short of Bayfront Charter by a score of 45-42 on Tuesday. While the Warriors didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Sharks 9-3 in the first quarter.
James Whitley put forth a good effort for the losing side as he dropped a double-double on 19 points and 11 rebounds. That was a full 45.2% of Rock Academy's points, marking the 13th time in a row he's posted more than a third of the team's points. Stephon Howell was another key player, putting up seven points and three steals.
Meanwhile, Crawford was able to grind out a solid win over Morse on Tuesday, taking the game 60-50.
Crawford's win came from a few key players Rock Academy will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Tremell Jackson, who dropped a double-double on 14 points and ten boards. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in steals (three). Another player making a difference was Mickelson Laguerre, who almost dropped a double-double on nine points and nine rebounds.
Crawford's victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 13-3. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 66.0 points per game. As for Rock Academy, their defeat dropped their record down to 0-16.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Rock Academy has been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 23.3 boards per game. However, it's not like Crawford struggles in that department as they've been averaging 28.6 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Rock Academy was taken down by Crawford 71-15 in their previous matchup back in December of 2024. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Jackson, who went 8 for 9 en route to 17 points. Now that Rock Academy knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
