The Atholton Raiders will be home for the holidays to greet the Meade Mustangs at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Atholton's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Friday after their third straight loss. They fell just short of Howard by a score of 64-62. Despite running the score up even higher than they did on Wednesday (58), Atholton still had to take the loss.
Atholton's loss came about despite a quality game from Deion Dent, who scored 22 points. That's the first time this season that Dent scored 15 or more points. Another player making a difference was Amir Shaheed, who scored 15 points along with three steals.
Even though they lost, Atholton were working as a unit and finished the game with 17 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, Meade earned a 65-56 victory over Old Mill on Friday.
Meade's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Keon Scott, who scored 12 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Ashton Turman, who scored nine points.
Atholton's defeat dropped their record down to 1-3. As for Meade, their victory bumped their record up to 3-1.
Keep an eye on the arc in Wednesday's matchup: Atholton have made nailing deep shots look easy this year this season, having only averaged 7.2 threes per game. It's a different story for Meade, though, as they've been averaging only 7.8 threes per game. Given Atholton's sizeable advantage in that area, Meade will need to find a way to close that gap.
Atholton was able to grind out a solid victory over Meade in their previous matchup back in December of 2019, winning 77-65. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Meade's Tareyton "tj" Speight, who scored 22 points. Now that he won't be playing on Wednesday, will it be that much easier for Atholton to walk away with another win? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
