The Cyprus Pirates's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Friday after their seventh straight loss. They fell just short of Juan Diego Catholic by a score of 58-56. Even though they lost, Cyprus' still made a splash on offense and bumped their average scoring up to 50.1 points per game (they're now ranked -1th in scoring overall).
Despite the loss, Cyprus still got an impressive performance from Paden Sharp, who went 8 for 11 from beyond the arc en route to 24 points and 1 assist. That's the first time this season that Sharp scored 15 or more points. Another player making a difference was Xian Brown, who scored 12 points.
Even though they lost, Cyprus were working as a unit and finished the game with 15 assists. This was only their ninth loss (out of ten games) when they've passed the ball that well.
Juan Diego Catholic's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Caden Fenger, who scored 11 points along with five rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Rahiti Tinirauarii, who scored 17 points.
Cyprus has fallen quite a ways from their 24-4 record last season and are now at 1-13. As for Juan Diego Catholic, they have been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five contests, which provided a massive bump to their 7-7 record this season.
Both teams will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Cyprus will square off against Granger at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Granger is on a seven-game streak of home losses, Cyprus a six-game streak of away losses, but someone's luck is about to change. Juan Diego Catholic will be staying on the road on Tuesday to face off against Hunter at 7:00 p.m. on January 16th. The matchup should be an exciting one, as these teams are ranked near one another in Utah (Hunter is ranked 80th, while Juan Diego Catholic is ranked 56th).
