The Chopticon Braves waltzed into their match on Wednesday with three straight wins but they left with four. They snuck past Patuxent with a 54-50 win. Given Chopticon's advantage in MaxPreps' Maryland basketball rankings (they are ranked 106th, while Patuxent is ranked 229th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Chopticon to victory, but perhaps none more so than Braylon Harrison, who dropped a double-double on 14 points and 13 rebounds. Harrison also grabbed two steals for the first time this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Jordan Pernell, who scored 13 points.
Despite the loss, Patuxent still got an impressive performance from Dereus Chappelle, who scored 24 points along with eight rebounds and four steals. Another player making a difference was Ethan Boakye, who scored 14 points along with six rebounds.
Chopticon is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matches, which provided a massive bump to their 6-4 record this season. As for Patuxent, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 3-8.
Chopticon will be playing at home against Leonardtown at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Hopefully Leonardtown focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 18 on Wednesday. As for Patuxent, they will head out on the road to take on Northern at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Hopefully Northern focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up nine on Wednesday.
