Awaken Christian is 2-8 against Needles since January of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The Awaken Christian Lions will be playing in front of their home fans against the Needles Mustangs at 6:30 p.m. Both teams are coming into the game red-hot, with Awaken Christian sitting on three straight victories and Needles on eight.
Last Thursday, Awaken Christian earned a 64-54 win over Laughlin.
Awaken Christian's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Jaylen Jordan, who scored 22 points along with 5 steals. That makes it six consecutive games in which Jordan has scored at least 25% of Awaken Christian's points. Another player making a difference was Jadon Kenny, who scored 15 points along with 7 rebounds.
Needles has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won eight matchups by 27 points or more this season. They took their matchup on the road on Saturday with ease, bagging a 76-19 victory over Founders Classical Academy. The contest was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 45-8.
Needles' success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Collin Smith led the charge by dropping a double-double on 18 points and 10 rebounds. Smith has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last three times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Luca Walema, who dropped a triple-double on 18 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists.
Awaken Christian's win bumped their record up to 5-1. As for Needles, they pushed their record up to 8-0 with that victory, which was their fifth straight on the road.
Awaken Christian might still be hurting after the 71-51 loss they got from Needles in their previous meeting back in January. Will Awaken Christian have more luck at home instead of on the road? Come back here after the game to get analysis of the match and other basketball content.
