Basketball Recap: Monday's Defeat Ends Hilltop Christian's Winning Streak

If Hilltop Christian was riding high fresh off their 69-31 takedown of Christ Covenant last Friday, their most recent game may have dampened their spirits a bit. The Hilltop Christian Chargers fell 75-66 to the Liberty Christian Patriots on Monday. The Chargers' loss signaled the end of their 11-game winning streak.

When it comes to explaining why Hilltop Christian lost, don't look at Caleb Manriquez. Despite the final result, he dropped a double-double on 23 points and 11 boards. The matchup was Manriquez's sixth in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Carter Snow, who went 7 for 15 on his way to 16 points and six assists.

Liberty Christian's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Jakeem Bradford led the charge by putting up 27 points in addition to eight assists and eight rebounds. Bradford is also on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed two or more in the last 29 games he's played dating back to last season. Ian Sterrett was another key player, earning 23 points and three steals.

Hilltop Christian's defeat ended a four-game streak of away wins and brought them to 19-4. As for Liberty Christian, the win (which was their fifth in a row) raised their record to 11-5.

Both teams will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Hilltop Christian has already played their next game (against Southside Christian), but no score has been uploaded at the time of writing. Liberty Christian and Faith Christian will face off at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday without much rest having both just played. Liberty Christian is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 69.1 points per game this season.