The Cardinal Newman Cardinals's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Friday after their fourth straight loss. They fell just short of Augusta Christian by a score of 61-59. While losing is never fun, Cardinal Newman can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps's basketball rankings in their respective home states (they are ranked 119th in South Carolina, while Augusta Christian is ranked 25th in Georgia).
Several Cardinals players turned in solid performances, despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Josiah Peeples, who scored 21 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Elton Smith jr., who dropped a double-double on 14 points and 15 rebounds.
Even though they lost, Cardinal Newman were smashing the offensive glass and finished the game with 18 offensive rebounds. This was only their tenth loss (out of 16 games) when they hit their own glass that hard.
Cardinal Newman has been struggling recently, as they've lost 11 of their last 14 games, which put a noticeable dent in their 7-12 record this season. As for Augusta Christian, the victory (which was their 11th in a row) raised their record to 13-4.
Cardinal Newman won't have much time to rest: their next match is against Winston-Salem Christian at 7:00 p.m. on January 6th. Augusta Christian won't have much time to rest: their next matchup is against First Baptist School at 3:30 p.m. on January 6th.
