Opponents: NIBC at Legacy Early College Preview

By: Steven Pham 

Graphic by: Jon D’Angelo

Wichita, KS. - #15 Sunrise Christian Academy (20-6) will close out their regular season and the NIBC season with two games in Greenville, SC. They will play #8 Long Island Lutheran on Friday, March 3rd at 4 p.m. CST. 

The second game will be against La Lumiere on Saturday, March 4th at 6 p.m. CST. Both games will be streamed on ESPN+. Both are must-win games for Sunrise to get into the postseason. 

Game #1: vs. Long Island Lutheran (LuHi) 

LuHi is based in Brookville, NY. and is led by head coach John Buck. They are led by #52 ranked V.J. Edgecombe on ESPN's Top 60 for the class of 2024. He is leading the NIBC in scoring at 18.2 PPG.

LuHi’s Jayden Reid (13.8 PPG) and Jayden Ross (12.6 PPG) are both top 10 in scoring in the NIBC. Reid leads the NIBC in assists at 6 per game. 

The rest of the roster includes; Keenan Emmanuel, Jacob Ross, Amdy Ndiate, Ben Michaels, Dylan Mingo, Preston Appel, Godswill Eheriene, and Kayden Mingo. 

LuHI is currently second in the NIBC standings with the second-best offensive rating and third-best defensive rating. Sunrise will have their hands full guarding three top 10 scorers in their conference. 

Edgecombe has had a 31, 28, and 25-point game in the NIBC and can get hot in an instant. Sunrise needs to limit his impact on the game to win and John Bol’s rim protection is going to be needed for these last two games. 

LuHi’s two losses were to IMG and Montverde Academy. Both games were close and IMG and Montverde did a good job of limiting LuHi’s top three scorers, especially Reid and Ross. That was the key to victory and Sunrise must replicate that. 

Game #2: vs. La Lumiere 

This is the second matchup against La Lumiere this season. Sunrise won the first meeting 58-56 in a nail-biting finish. La Lumiere’s Gus Yalden almost hit a game-tying layup off an offensive rebound but it rimmed out. 

La Lumiere’s Kaleb Glenn dominated the paint and had 18 points and 11 rebounds in their first matchup. Yalden was in foul trouble early and Sunrise was able to capitalize off that.

Glenn and Yalden are the two main scorers for La Lumiere and Sunrise will need to limit their impact in the paint. Bol needs to stay out of foul trouble and protect the rim for Sunrise to win. 

Sunrise’s Matas Buzelis had a slow start and only finished the game with 10 points. Sunrise will get his game going early on but will need help from his supporting cast again. 

Sunrise's Layden Blocker had 16 points and Scotty Middleton had 15 points in the first matchup. They will need similar production to secure this victory. 

Both games are a must-win to bolster their postseason chances and move up in the rankings. Tune into ESPN+ for Sunrise’s last two regular season games.