After a string of 11 wins, the New Covenant Gryphons 's good fortune finally ran out on Thursday. They fell to Eastern Mennonite 54-48. If New Covenant hoped to take revenge for the 69-50 defeat against they when the teams met, then they were left disappointed.
When it comes to explaining why New Covenant lost, one person who can't be blamed is Douglas Powell. Despite the final result, he dropped a double-double on 26 points and 16 rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Powell has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Cole Murdock, who scored nine points along with three steals.
Even though they lost, New Covenant were working as a unit and finished the game with ten assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Eastern Mennonite only racked up an assist.
Eastern Mennonite was led to victory by Prodigy L simms and Drew Hatter. L simms scored 20 points, while Hatter scored 16 points along with two steals. L simms has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last six times he's played. William Gardner was another key contributor, scoring seven points along with two steals.
New Covenant's loss ended a seven-game streak of away wins and brought them to 11-1. As for Eastern Mennonite, their victory was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 9-3.
New Covenant will head out on the road to challenge Westover Christian Academy at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Hopefully Westover Christian Academy focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 18 last Friday. As for Eastern Mennonite, they will look to defend their home court on Tuesday against The Covenant at 6:30 p.m. The Covenant will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Virginia Rankings (they are ranked 268th, while Eastern Mennonite is ranked 70th).
