It was fun while it lasted, but Monroe's undefeated season came to an end after five games on Thursday. They were just a bucket shy of victory and fell 49-48 to the Forest Hills Yellow Jackets. The loss was a bit of a surprise, as the Redhawks came into the matchup with a sizable advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 138th, while the Yellow Jackets are ranked 395th).
| 01/23/25 @ Forest Hills | 4 |
| 01/17/25 @ Central Academy | 3 |
| 01/03/25 @ Piedmont | 3 |
| 02/13/24 @ Central Academy | 3 |
| 01/19/24 vs Central Academy | 3 |
Despite the loss, Monroe still got an impressive performance from Jamari Clark, who went 5 of 10 on his way to 12 points and four steals. Those four steals gave Clark a new career-high. Jabari Benson was another key player, putting up eight points and seven boards.
Even though they lost, Monroe smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in eight consecutive contests dating back to last season.
Forest Hills' success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Amari Melton led the charge by posting seven points and five rebounds. Another player making a difference was Makhi Massey, who posted five points along with five boards and five steals.
Having lost for the first time this season, Monroe fell to 5-1. As for Forest Hills, they have been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four games, which provided a nice bump to their 8-9 record this season.
Monroe has already played their next matchup (against Piedmont), but no score has been uploaded at the time of writing. Forest Hills didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next contest, a 59-55 loss against Parkwood on the 24th.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
