The Heritage Academy Heroes entered their tilt with the St. John Paul II Catholic Lions with two consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with three. Heritage Academy simply couldn't be stopped on Tuesday as they easily beat St. John Paul II Catholic 71-43 at home. Given Heritage Academy's advantage in MaxPreps' Arizona basketball rankings (they are ranked 134th, while St. John Paul II Catholic is ranked 270th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Heritage Academy's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Cameron Irby led the charge by dropping a double-double on 23 points and 12 rebounds. Irby hasn't dropped below 15points for three straight games. Another player making a difference was Carlos daniel Garcia, who scored 12 points along with three steals.
Several Lions players turned in solid performances, despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Eli Lopez, who scored 15 points. Lopez continues to roll, besting his previous point total in each of the last three games he's played. Layne Dickens was another key contributor, scoring 12 points.
St. John Paul II Catholic struggled to get the ball back on offense and finished the game with only an offensive rebound. They were crushed by their opponents in that department as Heritage Academy pulled down 20 offensive rebounds.
Heritage Academy pushed their record up to 11-5 with that win, which was their third straight at home. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 63.3 points per game. As for St. John Paul II Catholic, they are on a four-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 7-15.
Heritage Academy will stay at home for another game and welcome Kingman Academy at 7:00 p.m. on January 18th. Hopefully Kingman Academy focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 26 on Tuesday. As for St. John Paul II Catholic, they will head out on the road to challenge Trivium Prep at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Trivium Prep comes in still looking for their first win of the season.