The St. Stephens Indians were the 54-48 winner over the Bandys Trojans when they last played one another back in December of 2022, but their luck changed this time around. St. Stephens was the victim of a rough 74-50 loss at the hands of Bandys on Tuesday. While losing is never fun, St. Stephens can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 213th, while Bandys is ranked 51st).
St. Stephens' lost despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Hayden Hillman, who scored 11 points along with 5 assists. The game was Hillman's fifth in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Jonah Long , who scored 9 points along with 5 steals.
St. Stephens struggled to get the ball back on offense and finished the game with only three offensive rebounds. They were crushed by their opponents in that department as Bandys pulled down 16.
Bandys' success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Landon Vaughan led the charge by scoring 22 points along with 8 rebounds. That makes it three consecutive games in which Vaughan has scored at least 25% of Bandys' points. The team also got some help courtesy of Micah Slaughter, who scored 18 points along with 3 steals.
St. Stephens' loss dropped their record down to 3-2. As for Bandys, the win for they keeps them at an undefeated 5-0.
St. Stephens will look to defend their home court on Friday against Bunker Hill at 7:30 p.m. As for Bandys, they will head out on the road to face off against Foard at 8:00 p.m. on Friday.
