Two dominant in Delani Hammonds and Nathan Tavares are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Ardrey Kell Knights will be playing at home against the Sun Valley Spartans at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Ardrey Kell has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 450 points over their last seven contests.
Winning is just a little bit easier when you work as a team to rack up 14 more assists than your opponent, a fact Ardrey Kell proved on Tuesday. Everything went their way against Porter Ridge as Ardrey Kell made off with a 68-46 victory.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Ardrey Kell to victory, but perhaps none more so than Hammonds, who dropped a double-double on 11 points and 10 assists. The contest was Hammonds' seventh in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Owen Wacker, who scored 16 points along with 5 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Sun Valley's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Friday after their third straight loss. They took a 52-45 hit to the loss column at the hands of East Mecklenburg. While losing is never fun, Sun Valley can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 342nd, while East Mecklenburg is ranked 106th).
Loss or not, Sun Valley got some senior leadership from Tavares who scored 17 points along with 9 rebounds and Will Calhoun who scored 10 points along with 7 rebounds. Tavares scored a full 37.8% of Sun Valley's points, the fourth time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points.
Ardrey Kell now has a winning record of 4-3. As for Sun Valley, they now have a losing record at 2-3.
Ardrey Kell came up short against Sun Valley when the teams last played back in December of 2022, falling 79-67. Will Ardrey Kell have more luck at home instead of on the road? Come back here after the game to get analysis of the match and other basketball content.
