If the Vine Christian Academy Kings were feeling good off their 75-40 takedown of Varsity Opponent last Wednesday, their most recent game may have dampened their spirits a bit. Vine Christian Academy took a hard 84-68 fall against Downey Christian on Saturday. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
Vine Christian Academy's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Keniel Velez, who dropped a double-double on 26 points and ten assists, and Luis Carias who scored 20 points along with eight assists and five rebounds. That was a full 38.2% of Vine Christian Academy's points, marking the 12th time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was Gilbert Oquendo, who scored eight points along with two steals.
Even though they lost, Vine Christian Academy were working as a unit and finished the game with 28 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Downey Christian only posted 11 assists.
Downey Christian got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Mickael Heritiana out in front who scored 18 points along with six assists. The team also got some help courtesy of Maylon Marte, who dropped a double-double on 17 points and ten rebounds.
Vine Christian Academy's loss dropped their record down to 10-8. As for Downey Christian, the win (which was their third in a row) raised their record to 16-5.
Vine Christian Academy will be staying on the road on Thursday to face off against Pathways at 3:15 p.m. on February 1st. As for Downey Christian, they will square off against Jordan Christian Prep at 6:00 p.m. on Monday. The matchup should be an exciting one, as these teams are ranked near one another in Florida (Jordan Christian Prep is ranked 149th, while Downey Christian is ranked 138th).
