The Innovation Academy The Red Tailed Hawk will face off against the Notre Dame Cristo Rey Panthers at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Innovation Academy is coming into the match on the come-up as their season has now been buoyed by two straight wins. They came within five points of losing the streak, but they secured a 68-63 W against Northeast Metro RVT.
Bryce Kankam
| 02/07/25 vs Northeast Metro RVT | 3 |
| 02/05/25 @ South Lancaster Academy | 4 |
| 02/04/25 @ Bethany Christian Academy | 3 |
| 01/31/25 @ Nashoba Valley Tech | 7 |
| 01/30/25 @ Pioneer Charter School of Science | 3 |
It was another big night for Bryce Kankam, who dropped a double-double with 34 points and 16 boards. He has been hot, having also posted three or more steals the last five times he's played. Logan Barnes was another key player, going 7 of 14 on his way to 17 points and three steals.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame Cristo Rey waltzed into their game on Monday with eight straight wins... but they left with nine. Everything went their way against the Pirates as they made off with a 72-46 victory. The Panthers have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won six contests by 20 points or more this season.
Notre Dame Cristo Rey's win came from a few key players Innovation Academy will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was S Garcia, who posted 18 points. Another player making a difference was I Feliciano, who put up 14 points.
Notre Dame Cristo Rey's win was their fifth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 16-1. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 70.2 points over those games. As for Innovation Academy, their record is now 4-14.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as Innovation Academy and Notre Dame Cristo Rey are some of the highest-scoring teams around. Innovation Academy hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 55.6 points per game. However, it's not like Notre Dame Cristo Rey struggles in that department as they've been averaging 67.1 points. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can put up more.
Innovation Academy was taken down by Notre Dame Cristo Rey 79-51 when the teams last played back in January. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Notre Dame Cristo Rey's D Osuna, who had 27 points. Now that Innovation Academy knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
