The Crossroads Christian Colts and the Freedom Christian Academy Patriots will compete for holiday cheer at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Crossroads Christian has six straight wins, Freedom Christian Academy has three straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the court.
Crossroads Christian is headed into the contest after thoroughly thrashing Falls Lake Academy: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that the Colts blew the Firebirds out of the water with an 81-38 final score. The Colts have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won seven games by 25 points or more this season.
Sean Smith
| 12/16/25 @ Falls Lake Academy | 22 |
| 11/18/25 @ Henderson Collegiate | 19 |
| 01/24/25 vs Lee Christian | 16 |
| 12/03/24 vs Cape Fear Christian Academy | 16 |
| 12/06/25 vs Carrboro | 15 |
Crossroads Christian's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Sean Smith, who went 8-for-13 to rack up 22 points and eight boards. Those 22 points gave Smith a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Jayson Baskerville, who dropped a double-double with 16 points and 17 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Freedom Christian Academy came up short against Trinity Christian on Tuesday and fell 73-66. While losing is never fun, the Patriots can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 178th, while the Crusaders are ranked 28th).
Crossroads Christian will have to contain Karsten Swinney as he made an impact in Freedom Christian Academy's last game. He posted 31 points in addition to six assists and five boards. That was a full 47% of Freedom Christian Academy's points, marking the third time in a row Swinney has earned more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Bryce West, who put up 16 points and four steals.
Freedom Christian Academy's defeat dropped their record down to 7-6. As for Crossroads Christian, their win bumped their record up to 8-1.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Crossroads Christian has been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 33.6 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Freedom Christian Academy struggles in that department as they've been averaging 22.7 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other basketball content.
