The Virginia Academy Patriots struggled with assists on Monday (the Evergreen Christian Eagles had 18 more) and sadly the final score reflected it. Virginia Academy took a hard 68-51 fall against Evergreen Christian. While losing is never fun, Virginia Academy can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Virginia basketball rankings (they are ranked 172nd, while Evergreen Christian is ranked 35th).
Virginia Academy lost despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Jihad Murray, who scored ten points along with two steals. Another player making a difference was Rondel Jones Jr., who scored ten points.
Evergreen Christian's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Zach Cook, who scored 18 points. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Cook has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Rodney Ekwoanya, who dropped a double-double on 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Virginia Academy bumped their record down to 3-15 with that defeat, which was their fifth straight at home dating back to last season. That rough patch can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 55.0 points per game. As for Evergreen Christian, the victory (which was their fourth in a row) raised their record to 12-4.
Virginia Academy will face off against St. Mary's Ryken at 10:00 a.m. on Monday. As for Evergreen Christian, they will be playing in front of their home fans against Shabach Christian Academy Blue at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Shabach Christian Academy Blue knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with flashy point totals in its past three contests -- so hopefully Evergreen Christian likes a good challenge.
