Basketball Recap: Owen Snaps Seven-Game Streak of Wins at Home

Owen has been a dominant force so far, but they're in the middle of a mini-slump at the moment. They were three points away from ending the streak, but they lost a 84-81 heartbreaker at the hands of the Avery County Vikings. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game last Tuesday (69), the Warhorses still had to take the loss.

Owen's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Asante Martin, who dropped a double-double on 26 points and ten rebounds, and Jared Kelley, who went 9 for 19 on his way to 26 points and eight boards. The contest was Martin's eighth in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Eli Lewkowicz, who posted ten points in addition to eight assists and five boards.

Even though they lost, Owen was working as a unit and finished the game with 20 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Avery County only racked up 14 assists.

Avery County's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Landon Liner led the charge by going 7 of 11 en route to 18 points and three blocks. The dominant performance gave Liner a new career-high in blocks. Hank Johnson was another key player, going 5 for 12 on his way to 20 points and seven rebounds.

Owen's defeat ended a seven-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 12-5. As for Avery County, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 10-7.

Both squads are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Owen has already played their next game (against Rosman), but no score has been uploaded at the time of writing. Avery County will challenge Mountain Heritage at 8:00 p.m. on Friday. Avery County has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last three games.