The Virginia Academy Patriots 's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Friday after their fourth straight loss. They were beaten by Riverdale Baptist 71-42. While losing is never fun, Virginia Academy can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' basketball rankings in their respective home states (they are ranked 178th in Virginia, while Riverdale Baptist is ranked 27th in Maryland).
Virginia Academy lost despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Ben Johnson, who scored 13 points along with six rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Mike Manser, who scored 12 points along with five rebounds.
Virginia Academy struggled to work together and finished the game with only four assists. They were crushed by their opponents in that department as Riverdale Baptist racked up 14 assists.
Riverdale Baptist was led to victory by Jacoby Briscoe and Kamari Cooke. Briscoe scored ten points, while Cooke scored seven points along with five assists. Cannon Greene was another key contributor, scoring seven points.
Virginia Academy's loss was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season, which dropped their record down to 4-19. As for Riverdale Baptist, the victory made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 20-13.
Virginia Academy will head out on the road to challenge Steward at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. Steward has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 178 points over their last three matchups. As for Riverdale Baptist, they won't have much time to rest: their next contest is against Shabach Christian Academy at 4:40 p.m. on February 3rd. Riverdale Baptist knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with flashy point totals in its past seven matchups -- so hopefully Shabach Christian Academy likes a good challenge.
