Athens Drive suffered their biggest loss since February 16, 2024 on Friday. They lost 89-69 to the Cardinal Gibbons Crusaders. While losing is never fun, the Jaguars can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 280th, while the Crusaders are ranked 61st).
| 01/24/25 @ Cardinal Gibbons | 26 |
| 01/06/25 @ Riverside-Durham | 25 |
| 12/05/23 @ Apex | 23 |
| 02/16/24 @ Cardinal Gibbons | 23 |
| 01/19/24 @ Enloe | 19 |
When it comes to explaining why Athens Drive lost, don't look at Derek Crumpton. Despite the final result, he went 12 for 16 en route to 26 points and six boards. The dominant performance gave Crumpton a new career-high in points. Sifen Dereje also deserves some recognition as he scored his first points of the season.
Even though they lost, Athens Drive was working as a unit and finished the game with 21 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.
Cardinal Gibbons had a senior duo take command as Damon Phillips went 8 of 13 from beyond the arc on his way to 26 points and five assists and Cash McSweeney dropped a double-double on 19 points and ten rebounds. Those 26 points set a new season-high mark for Phillips. The team also got some help courtesy of Bryce Fitzsimmons, who went 7 for 11 en route to 11 points.
Athens Drive has been struggling recently as they've lost six of their last eight games, which put a noticeable dent in their 5-8 record this season. That patch can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 51.0 points per game. As for Cardinal Gibbons, they pushed their record up to 10-6 with the victory, which was their fourth straight at home.
Coincidentally, Athens Drive and Cardinal Gibbons will both be playing Broughton the next time they take the court. Cardinal Gibbons will host Broughton at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, while Athens Drive will host them at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
