If Mater Dei Catholic was feeling good fresh off their 83-63 takedown of Helix last Saturday, their most recent game may have dampened their spirits a bit. The Mater Dei Catholic Crusaders took a 77-71 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Liberty Patriots. While losing is never fun, the Crusaders can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' basketball rankings in their respective home states (they are ranked 332nd in California, while the Patriots are ranked 15th in Nevada).
| 12/26/24 vs Liberty | 25 |
| 12/21/24 @ Helix | 18 |
| 11/30/24 vs St. Bonaventure | 18 |
| 01/27/24 @ Helix | 16 |
| 12/22/23 vs San Dieguito Academy | 13 |
Several Crusaders players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Johnathan Hawthorne, who went 9 of 15 on his way to 25 points. The dominant performance gave Hawthorne a new career-high in points. The team also got some help courtesy of Ari Krasniqi, who went 5 of 10 on his way to 15 points.
Liberty was led to victory by Dante Steward and Jaden Riley. Steward posted 26 points, while Riley went 7 of 17 on his way to 23 points in addition to seven assists and six boards. Another player making a difference was Jalen Parker, who put up seven points and six rebounds.
Mater Dei Catholic's loss dropped their record down to 7-7. As for Liberty, the win got them back to even at 3-3.
Mater Dei Catholic didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next game, a 67-54 defeat against Mount Si on the 27th. As for Liberty, they also wasted no time getting back out on the court and have already played their next matchup, a 72-54 loss against Monterey Trail on the 27th.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
