The Nederland Panthers were the 46-31 winner over the Ascent Classical Academy Guardians when they last played one another back in February, but their luck changed this time around. Nederland lost to Ascent Classical Academy on the road by a decisive 55-36 margin on Monday.
Rick Fortunato and Gavin Dillon certainly did their best on Monday to try and avoid the loss. Fortunato scored 16 points along with 7 rebounds, while Dillon dropped a double-double on 11 points and 11 rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Kiryu Sugishita, who scored 6 points.
Nederland's defeat dropped their record down to 0-1. As for Ascent Classical Academy, their win bumped their record up to 1-0.
Nederland will get a bit of extra time to process the loss as their next game is a ways off. They'll take on STEM School Highlands Ranch at 4:30 p.m. on December 8th. Hopefully STEM School Highlands Ranch focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 17 on December 5th. As for Ascent Classical Academy, they will square off against Caprock Academy at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday. The matchup should be an exciting one, as these teams are ranked near one another in Colorado (Caprock Academy is ranked 107th, while Ascent Classical Academy is ranked 123rd).
