The Colonial Christian Patriots pushed their score all the way to 65 on Friday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They received a tough blow as they fell 80-65 to Pinecrest Glades Academy. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their last game last Monday (62), Colonial Christian still had to take the loss.
Colonial Christian's loss came despite strong showings from Christian Valino and Ari Espinosa. Valino dropped a double-double on 23 points and ten rebounds, while Espinosa dropped a double-double on 16 points and 14 rebounds. That was a full 35.4% of Colonial Christian's points, marking the third time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was Kevin Gomez, who scored 13 points.
Pinecrest Glades Academy's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Ronnie Rivero, who scored 19 points along with six steals. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Rivero has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Keith Hernandez, who dropped a double-double on 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Colonial Christian's loss dropped their record down to 2-10. As for Pinecrest Glades Academy, the victory (which was their third in a row) raised their record to 7-2.
Both teams will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Colonial Christian will get a bit of extra time to process the loss as their next game is a ways off. They'll take on Cushman at 5:00 p.m. on Monday. Pinecrest Glades Academy's road trip will continue as they head out to face BridgePrep Village Green at 7:30 p.m. on January 17th. BridgePrep Village Green is on a six-game streak of home wins, Pinecrest Glades Academy a three-game streak of away wins -- so someone will have to leave a streak behind on the court.
