The Conneaut Spartans's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Tuesday after their seventh straight loss. They took a serious blow against Madison, falling 79-43. While losing is never fun, Conneaut can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 624th, while Madison is ranked 210th).
Several Spartans players turned in solid performances, despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was J.R. Hutchison, who scored nine points. Another player making a difference was Chance Loomis, who scored 17 points.
Conneaut struggled to get the ball back on offense and finished the game with only three offensive rebounds. That's the fewest offensive rebounds they've managed all season.
JP Dragas continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines for Madison, scoring 26 points along with seven assists and seven rebounds. That makes it six consecutive games in which Dragas has scored at least 25% of Madison's points. Seth Negan was another key contributor, scoring seven points along with four steals.
Conneaut's defeat dropped their record down to 3-7. As for Madison, the win was the third in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 8-3.
Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Conneaut will challenge Lakeside at 6:45 p.m. on Friday. Lakeside is coming into the match on a five-game losing streak. As for Madison, they will head out on the road to face off against Edgewood at 6:45 p.m. on Friday. Edgewood knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with flashy point totals in its past nine matchups -- so hopefully Madison likes a good challenge.
