The No. 1 ranked McDonough boys picked up their latest resume-building victory on Monday at the Dream Challenge at Campbell High School. The Warhawks’ MLK Day victory came in a 68-61 triumph over Class 3A No. 1 ranked Sandy Creek. Toppling a top-ranked team to tipoff the week has broadened the spotlight ahead of their anticipated Region 5 showdown with Pace Academy this Friday.
Similar to McDonough, Pace Academy is undefeated within the classification this season and is battle-tested heading into the first of two regular season showdowns with No. 1 McDonough. Both teams are off to 6-0 starts in region play and the Knights have picked up four-straight wins to improve to 12-4 overall.
Pace Academy is new to Class 4A this season and has a championship pedigree that will offer a measuring stick to McDonough as the program looks to win its first-ever state crown this season. Pace Academy junior Kyle Greene (25) and Eric Chatfield (16) led the Knights with 41 of their 62 points in the latest win over Chaminade-Julienne and also combined for 10 of the team’s 12 assists.
McDonough’s win over Sandy Creek on Monday showed just how balanced the offensive duties have been distributed this season with Amon McDowell (18), Da’Avion Thomas (16), Kennan Gray (15) and Avante Nichols (13) all scoring in double-figures. McDonough held off Sandy Creek—despite shooting just 2-of-12 from beyond the arc.
The aggressive playmaking from Thomas and McDowell helped offset the lack of success from three-point range as the two seniors took a combined 21 trips to the foul line in part of McDonough’s 22-of-29 effort (76 percent).
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