Basketball Recap: Young Men's Leadership Academy Takes a Loss

Young Men's Leadership Academy suffered their biggest loss since February 20, 2024 on Friday. They were dealt a 72-36 defeat at the hands of the Cole Cougars. While losing is never fun, Young Men's Leadership Academy can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Texas basketball rankings (they are ranked 704th, while Cole is ranked 321st).

Despite the loss, Young Men's Leadership Academy had strong showings from Raishaun Conaway, who almost dropped a double-double on 14 points and nine boards, and Kaleb Mcewen, who posted 12 points. That's the most points Conaway has posted since back in December of 2023.

Cole had a senior duo take command as Logan Beckstrom shot 4-for-7 from downtown and almost dropped a double-double on 26 points and nine rebounds and Aaron Braxton dropped a double-double on 16 points and 11 boards. The match was Beckstrom's 11th in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Mackenzie Schonberg, who had six points and nine rebounds.

Young Men's Leadership Academy's defeat dropped their record down to 14-10. As for Cole, they have been performing well recently as they've won seven of their last nine games, which provided a nice bump to their 21-7 record this season.

Young Men's Leadership Academy is taking a road trip to square off against Randolph at 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Young Men's Leadership Academy is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 60 points per game this season. As for Cole, they will welcome Marion at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Cole will be looking to extend their current six-game winning streak.