After flying high against the Hickory Grove Christian Lions on Tuesday, the Gaston Day Spartans came back down to earth. Gaston Day fell 81-69 to Concord Academy on Friday. Gaston Day has struggled against Concord Academy recently, as their matchup on Friday was their third consecutive lost matchup.
When it comes to explaining why Gaston Day lost, one person who can't be blamed is Deshawn Coulter. Despite the final result, he scored 26 points. Those 26 points set a new season-high mark for him. Another player making a difference was Gavin Fields, who scored 13 points.
Leading Concord Academy to victory were Sean Birmingham and Ian Howard. Birmingham scored 18 points along with seven rebounds, while Howard scored 23 points. The contest was Birmingham's fifth in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Jake Benham, who scored 11 points along with six assists and five rebounds.
Gaston Day's loss dropped their record down to 8-5. As for Concord Academy, their win was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 7-5.
Gaston Day will be home for the holidays to greet Westchester Country Day at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Westchester Country Day will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps North Carolina Rankings (they are ranked 373rd, while Gaston Day is ranked 96th). Concord Academy won't have much time to rest: their next game is against Hammond at 2:30 p.m. on December 9th.
