After a string of three wins, the Cary Christian Knights's good fortune finally ran out on Friday. They opened the new year with a less-than-successful 51-46 loss to they. They have not had much luck with GRACE Christian recently, as the team's come up short the last four times they've met.
Several Knights players turned in solid performances, despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Andrew Neal, who scored 12 points along with six assists and five rebounds. Neal scored a full 26.1% of Cary Christian's points, the 12th time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Gideon Landry, who dropped a double-double on 16 points and ten rebounds.
Even though they lost, Cary Christian were working as a unit and finished the game with 13 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as GRACE Christian only racked up six assists.
GRACE Christian found their leader in underclassman Michael Phillips II, who scored 18 points along with six rebounds and four blocks. The matchup was Phillips II's fourth in a row with at least ten points. Quasim Oden was another key contributor, scoring 15 points.
Cary Christian's defeat ended a five-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 10-2. As for GRACE Christian, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 12 of their last 14 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 15-5 record this season.
Cary Christian will look to defend their home court on Tuesday against Trinity Academy at 7:15 p.m. Trinity Academy is hoping to put an end to a three-game streak of away losses. As for GRACE Christian, they will head out on the road to face off against Trinity of Durham and Chapel Hill at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday.
