The Sacred Heart Prep Gators waltzed into their matchup on Tuesday with six straight wins dating back to last season but they left with seven. They came out on top against King's Academy by a score of 60-52. This was payback for Sacred Heart Prep, who suffered a 53-49 defeat the last time these two teams met.
JP Kerrigan was his usual excellent self, scoring 18 points along with five steals. The team also got some help courtesy of TJ O'Brien, who scored 13 points.
Despite the loss, King's Academy saw an underclassman step up: Xavier Barnett scored 23 points along with two steals. Barnett hasn't dropped below two steals for seven straight games. Another player making a difference was Caedmon Dickson, who scored nine points along with two steals.
Sacred Heart Prep is on a roll lately: they've won ten of their last 11 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 13-4 record this season. As for King's Academy, their loss ended a four-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 12-5.
Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Sacred Heart Prep on the road again on Thursday and play against Crystal Springs Uplands at 4:00 p.m. on January 25th. Crystal Springs Uplands will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps California Rankings (they are ranked 919th, while Sacred Heart Prep is ranked 73rd). As for King's Academy, they will head out on the road to face off against Eastside College Prep at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.
