The Cardinal Mooney Cougars won the last time they faced the Booker Tornadoes, and things went their way on Wednesday too. Cardinal Mooney came out on top against Booker by a score of 53-41. Given Cardinal Mooney's advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 214th, while Booker is ranked 505th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Connor Heald was his usual excellent self, scoring 18 points along with three steals. That makes it five consecutive games in which he has scored at least 25% of Cardinal Mooney's points. Another player making a difference was Cooper Smith, who scored 12 points along with five rebounds.
Booker's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Kaiden Wright, who scored 13 points, and Jovan Palavra who scored 13 points. The game was Palavra's seventh in a row with at least ten points. Darius Behn was another key contributor, scoring seven points.
Cardinal Mooney's win bumped their record up to 7-5. As for Booker, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 4-8.
Cardinal Mooney's road trip will continue as they head out to face Riverview Sarasota at 7:45 p.m. on December 28th. Riverview Sarasota will be looking to extend their current five-game winning streak. Booker won't have much time to rest: their next match is against Dunbar at 4:30 p.m. on December 28th.
