The Evangel Christian Lightning put another one in the bag on Tuesday to keep their perfect season alive. They came out on top against Bessemer Academy by a score of 69-59. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
Owen Bugnar was his usual excellent self, scoring 28 points. Those 28 points set a new season-high mark for him. Another player making a difference was Zion Thompson, who scored ten points along with nine assists and seven steals.
Despite the loss, Bessemer Academy still got an impressive performance from Luke Turner, who scored 21 points. Turner continues to roll, besting his previous point total in each of the last three games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of JJ Jeter, who scored 11 points along with seven rebounds and seven steals.
Even though they lost, Bessemer Academy were working as a unit and finished the game with 14 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Evangel Christian only racked up 21 assists.
Evangel Christian pushed their record up to 10-0 with that win, which was their seventh straight on the road dating back to last season. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 65.1 points per game. As for Bessemer Academy, their loss ended a 13-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 10-1.
Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Evangel Christian will challenge Valiant Cross Academy at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. Valiant Cross Academy knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with flashy point totals in its past three matchups -- so hopefully Evangel Christian likes a good challenge. Bessemer Academy will get a bit of extra time to process the loss as their next game is a ways off. They'll take on Fort Dale Academy at 7:00 p.m. on January 5, 2024. Fort Dale Academy will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Alabama Rankings (they are ranked 178th, while Bessemer Academy is ranked 49th).
