The McKenzie Tigers's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Wednesday after their fourth straight loss. They ended up on the wrong side of a rough 98-72 walloping at the hands of Hillcrest. While losing is never fun, McKenzie can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Alabama basketball rankings (they are ranked 276th, while Hillcrest is ranked 69th).
McKenzie's loss came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Jaylen Mcmillian, who dropped a double-double on 27 points and 21 rebounds. Mcmillian scored a full 37.5% of McKenzie's points, the fourth time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Quay Jackson, who scored 19 points along with eight assists.
Even though they lost, McKenzie were working as a unit and finished the game with 16 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Hillcrest only racked up 31 assists.
Robert Simpson continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines for Hillcrest, shooting 4-for-9 from long range and dropping a double-double on 42 points and ten rebounds. The game was Simpson's ninth in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Jermonte Stallworth , who dropped a double-double on 16 points and ten assists.
McKenzie now has a losing record at 3-4. As for Hillcrest, the win (which was their seventh in a row) raised their record to 9-2.
McKenzie and Straughn will face off at 5:00 p.m. on December 18th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Hillcrest and Georgiana will face off at 5:00 p.m. on December 14th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Georgiana has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 583 points over their last seven games.
