Two dominant guards in Jacob Garrison and Matthew Thomas are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Grove Christian School Falcons will be staying on the road on Friday to face off against the James River HomeSchool Eagles at 6:30 p.m. on February 9th. Hopefully Grove Christian School focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up eight last Monday.
Grove Christian School pushed their score all the way to 63, but even that wasn't enough to win. They fell 75-63 to Denbigh Baptist Christian. The game was a 28-28 toss-up at halftime, but Grove Christian School couldn't quite close it out.
Despite the defeat, Grove Christian School had strong showings from Garrison, who almost dropped a double-double on 19 points and nine assists, and Owen Collawn, who dropped a double-double on 14 points and ten rebounds. Garrison has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last nine times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Josiah Murchie, who scored eight points.
Meanwhile, James River HomeSchool didn't have too much trouble with Spirit HomeSchool on the road on Saturday as they won 66-50.
Thomas was his usual excellent self, scoring 31 points along with seven rebounds and four steals. As a matter of fact, that's the most points he has scored all season. Samuel Mitchell was another key contributor, scoring 12 points along with six rebounds and five steals.
Grove Christian School's loss dropped their record down to 6-11. As for James River HomeSchool, they have been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six matches, which provided a massive bump to their 11-7 record this season.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Grove Christian School have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 29.9 rebounds per game. However, it's not like James River HomeSchool struggles in that department as they've been averaging 24.9 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Grove Christian School might still be hurting after the 68-44 loss they got from James River HomeSchool when the teams last played back in December of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Thomas, who scored 24 points. Now that Grove Christian School knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
