The Hough Huskies suffered their biggest loss since December 12, 2023 on Friday. They had to suffer through a rough 76-47 loss at the hands of Hopewell. While losing is never fun, Hough can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 328th, while Hopewell is ranked 67th).
When it comes to explaining why Hough lost, one person who can't be blamed is Blake Desautels. Despite the final result, he scored 17 points along with eight rebounds. Another player making a difference was John Slusher, who scored nine points.
Hopewell had a senior duo take command as Derrick Eley scored 14 points along with eight rebounds and seven assists and Julian Mack scored 20 points along with four steals. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Mack has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Quay Watson, who scored seven points along with eight steals and five assists.
This is the second loss in a row for Hough and nudges their season record down to 4-12. As for Hopewell, their win bumped their record up to 12-3.
Both teams are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Hough will take on North Mecklenburg at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. North Mecklenburg knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with flashy point totals in its past 17 matchups -- so hopefully Hough likes a good challenge. Hopewell won't have much time to rest: their next matchup is against Lexington at 5:00 p.m. on January 20th. Lexington is also coming in off of a big victory, so somebody is in for a big reversal of fortune.
