The Hazel Green Trojans pushed their score all the way to 60 on Thursday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They were just a bucket shy of victory and fell 61-60 to Battle Ground Academy. Despite running the score up even higher than they did on Wednesday (56), Hazel Green still had to take the loss.
Hazel Green's defeat came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Jalen Bright, who scored 17 points. The contest was Bright's seventh in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Sayiid Allen, who scored nine points along with six rebounds.
Hazel Green's defeat dropped their record down to 10-6. As for Battle Ground Academy, the victory was the fifth in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 12-1.
Hazel Green and Franklin County will face off at 10:00 a.m. on December 22nd without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Franklin County will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in their respective state's rankings (they are ranked 261st in Tennessee, while Hazel Green is ranked 22nd in Alabama). Battle Ground Academy won't have much time to rest: their next game is against Cookeville at 1:30 p.m. on December 22nd.
