The Cole Cougars's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Tuesday after their third straight loss. They ended up on the wrong side of a rough 72-49 walloping at the hands of Wagner. While losing is never fun, Cole can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Texas basketball rankings (they are ranked 449th, while Wagner is ranked 43rd).
Defeat or not, Cole got some senior leadership from Ajian Hasadinratana who scored 20 points along with 5 rebounds and James Livingston who scored 19 points along with 6 assists. Livingston scored a full 38.8% of Cole's points, the second time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was Logan Beckstrom, who scored 5 points.
Wagner got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Marcus Johnson out in front who scored 16 points along with 3 steals. The match was Johnson's third in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Daimen Ramirez, who scored 15 points along with 8 rebounds.
Cole's defeat dropped their record down to 9-7. As for Wagner, the victory (which was their third in a row) raised their record to 11-4.
Cole will be playing at home against Steele at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. One thing working in Steele's favor is that they have posted big point totals in their last six contests. Wagner will be staying on the road on Friday to face off against Episcopal at 9:00 p.m. on December 8th. Episcopal knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with flashy point totals in its past four contests -- so hopefully Wagner likes a good challenge.
