The Cardinal Gibbons Crusaders waltzed into their match on Friday with three straight wins but they left with four. They enjoyed a cozy 52-38 win over Athens Drive. Given Cardinal Gibbons' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 81st, while the Jaguars are ranked 373rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Cardinal Gibbons' success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Ronny Turner led the charge by scoring eight points along with 11 rebounds and seven steals. Turner has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last five times he's played. Another player making a difference was Cash McSweeney, who dropped a double-double on 15 points and ten rebounds.
Cardinal Gibbons is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six games, which provided a nice bump to their 11-5 record this season. As for Athens Drive, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 5-12.
Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Cardinal Gibbons is on the road again on Tuesday and plays the Spartans at 7:30 p.m. on January 30th. Sanderson will be looking to keep their five-game home win streak alive. As for Athens Drive, they will head out on the road to square off against the Capitals at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Hopefully Broughton focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 13 on Friday.
