The Olympic Trojans struggled with offensive rebounds on Tuesday (the Palisades Pumas had 14 more) and sadly the final score reflected it. Olympic took a 52-43 hit to the loss column at the hands of Palisades. While losing is never fun, Olympic can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 360th, while Palisades is ranked 134th).
Despite the loss, Olympic saw an underclassman step up: CANNON DEBERRY dropped a double-double on 14 points and 15 rebounds. DEBERRY hasn't dropped below ten rebounds for four straight games. Another player making a difference was DEANGELO HALL, who scored eight points along with four steals.
Even though they lost, Olympic smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 12 offensive rebounds. This was only their 12th loss (out of 16 games) when they hit their own glass that hard.
Brian Ngo went supernova for Palisades, scoring 17 points along with seven rebounds and three steals. It was the first time this season that Ngo scored 15 or more points. The team also got some help courtesy of Kingston Henry, who scored eight points.
Olympic has not been sharp recently as the team's lost nine of their last ten contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 4-17 record this season. As for Palisades, their victory bumped their record up to 13-9.
Olympic will be playing in front of their home fans against Myers Park at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The timing isn't great for Olympic: they have been struggling with three straight losses at home, while Myers Park has snatched up seven consecutive wins on the road. As for Palisades, they will challenge West Cabarrus at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
