Mountain Heritage entered their contest against Madison on Thursday without any home losses, but there's a first time for everything. The Cougars were just a bucket shy of victory and fell 53-52 to the Patriots. The Cougars were not able to repeat the success they had when they faced the Patriots earlier this season, when they won 60-57.

Cason Jones
| 02/19/26 vs Madison | 80% |
| 02/16/26 @ Hendersonville | 50% |
| 02/12/26 @ Madison | 46% |
| 02/10/26 vs Owen | 90% |
Mountain Heritage lost despite a true team effort on offense. The best among them was Cason Jones, who went 8-for-10 to rack up 16 points. He is also on a roll when it comes to field goal percentage, as he's posted one of at least 46% in the last four games he's played. Slayden Raines was another key player, putting up nine points.
Gavin Gault was his usual excellent self, shooting 54% from the field en route to 23 points and seven boards for Madison. Another player making a difference was Dallas Bartlett, who posted nine points and seven rebounds.
Mountain Heritage's defeat dropped their record down to 16-8. As for Madison, the victory (which was their third in a row) raised their record to 14-12.
Looking ahead, Mountain Heritage will face off against Union Academy at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. As for Madison, they wasted no time getting back out on the court and have already played their next matchup, a 77-70 loss against Hendersonville on the 20th.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps