The Hialeah Educational Academy Biggie came tearing into Saturday's match with five straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 14.2 points) and they left with even more momentum. They came out on top against Northwestern by a score of 67-57. Given Hialeah Educational Academy's advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 30th, while Northwestern is ranked 112th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Hialeah Educational Academy's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Reece Randolph led the charge by scoring 27 points. The matchup was Randolph's seventh in a row with at least ten points. Isaiah Renaud was another key contributor, scoring 14 points along with seven rebounds.
When it comes to explaining why Northwestern lost, one person who can't be blamed is Calvin Russel. Despite the final result, he dropped a double-double on 24 points and 14 rebounds. Russel scored a full 42.1% of Northwestern's points, the 11th time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was Jakeel Baker, who scored 11 points.
Hialeah Educational Academy's victory bumped their record up to 12-4. As for Northwestern, they are on a three-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 7-4.
Both teams will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Hialeah Educational Academy is on the road again on Tuesday and play against Sagemont at 7:00 p.m. on January 9th. Sagemont is on a three-game streak of home wins, Hialeah Educational Academy a five-game streak of away wins -- so someone will have to leave a streak behind on the court. As for Northwestern, they will head out on the road to face off against Doral Academy at 7:30 p.m. on Monday. Doral Academy has insisted on making their lastthree contests complete nail-biters, turning in a record of 1-2 during that stretch of close contests.
