The Asheville Cougars will head out on the road to face off against the McDowell Titans at 8:00 p.m. on Friday. Asheville will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps North Carolina Rankings (they are ranked 332nd, while McDowell is ranked 96th).
Asheville unfortunately witnessed the end of their three-game winning streak on Tuesday. They lost to T.C. Roberson on the road by a decisive 53-34 margin. Asheville found out winning isn't easy when your three-point shooting is a whole 21% worse than the opposition.
Despite their defeat, Asheville saw several players rise to the challenge and make noteworthy plays. Elijah Cox, who scored 12 points, was perhaps the best of all. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Cox has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Aidan Shaw, who scored four points along with five rebounds.
Meanwhile, even though Hibriten scored an imposing 55 points on Wednesday, McDowell still came out on top. McDowell strolled past Hibriten with points to spare, taking the game 72-55. Winning may never get old, but McDowell sure is getting used to it with their fourth in a row.
McDowell's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Jaurice Ledbetter, who scored 15 points. Another player making a difference was David Olivo, who scored 14 points.
Asheville's loss dropped their record down to 8-11. As for McDowell, they are on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine games, which provided a nice bump to their 18-3 record this season.
Asheville was dealt a bruising 90-51 loss at the hands of McDowell when the teams last played back in January. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of McDowell's Rylan Parkins, who scored 39 points. Now that Asheville knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
