Doane Academy pushed their score all the way to 73 on Thursday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They took a hard 87-73 fall against Cross Christian Academy. While losing is never fun, Doane Academy can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps's basketball rankings in their respective home states (they are ranked 320th in New Jersey, while Cross Christian Academy is ranked eighth in Delaware).
Defeat or not, Doane Academy got some senior leadership from Nick Fusco who scored 20 points along with five rebounds and three steals and Vaughn Hoagland who scored 19 points along with eight rebounds. The matchup was Hoagland's sixth in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Colin Warman, who scored 11 points along with five rebounds.
Even though they lost, Doane Academy were smashing the offensive glass and finished the game with 16 offensive rebounds. That's the most offensive rebounds they've managed all season.
Cross Christian Academy's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Makel Hubbard, who scored 26 points. That makes it three consecutive games in which Hubbard has scored at least 25% of Cross Christian Academy's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Dontarius Jones, who scored 20 points.
Doane Academy's loss dropped their record down to 2-4. As for Cross Christian Academy, they now have a winning record of 3-2.
Doane Academy will finish 2023 at home by hosting Burlington City at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday. Burlington City comes in still looking for their first win of the season. Cross Christian Academy and Hightstown will round out the year against one another at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday at. Hightstown knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with flashy point totals in its past five matchups -- so hopefully Cross Christian Academy likes a good challenge.
