Jeremiah Sosa is a student at ASU's Cronkite School of Journalism assigned to cover Notre Dame Prep by AZPreps365.com

The Phoenix Christian High School Cougars are looking to get an overall boost from senior guard Howard Russell in Thursday night's game against North Phoenix Preparatory Academy after his long absence due to COVID team protocols. 

Russell’s return can’t come any sooner as the Cougars are coming off of a three-game losing streak including a close loss to rival regional opponent, Phoenix Country Day. 

“We just ran out of gas there at the end… and kind of lost our focus which is one of the things that we struggle with as a team,” said senior Mark Reeves. 

The Cougars kept the game within one point, but the Phoenix Country Day Eagles went on a 8-0 run in the last two minutes of the game to hand the Cougars their first regional loss of the season. 

The season has not been the easiest up to this point for the Cougars. They have dealt with adversity, including multiple players being out due to COVID protocols and other unforeseen circumstances, including their star senior, Howard Russell who has only played two of the nine games this season. 

Russell started the season off averaging seven points and nine rebounds. He did not shoot the ball as well as coach first-year head coach Ben Stryczek would have liked, but this was for good reason. 

Russell’s first two games were coming off of the heels of a playoff run with the Cougars football team and being the No. 2 overall ranked football player in the state of Arizona in terms of yards ran, touchdowns per game, and interceptions per game, according to coach Ben Stryczek. 

Russell also recently signed with the Eastern New Mexico University football team to play running back. 

“Howard is one of the most impressive physical specimens that 2A basketball has or probably will ever see,” said coach Stryczek a year after Russell made first team All Region for the 2A Metro Region in the 2019-2020 basketball season. 

Stryczek is expecting Russell to help improve the team's passing, rebounding and defense in his first game back against North Phoenix. “He’s ready to come and make a major impact on the game every second he's on the court,” said Stryczek. 

The Cougars' opponent tonight, the North Phoenix Preparatory Academy Gladiators, are coming off of their own struggles after dropping each of their last five games to start the season 0-5. 

Even though the Cougars are facing a winless North Phoenix team, Stryczek is still going into the game with the same mindset that he has going into every game. “We're gonna go in there and give them the respect and treat them like any other opponent.”

Senior big man, Ryan Walker, is looking forward to tonight's game saying, “[it’s a] good chance for us to get back on track, and to start a winning streak and to bring our team's morale back up.” 

Walker is also expecting big things from Russell in tonight’s game. “He’s great at creating opportunities and finishing shots and we definitely expect a lot from him,”  Walker also said, “I think that he’ll be a very crucial part of our team that we’re glad to have back and I think that he’ll help us win some games.”

Russell’s return to the team comes at a crucial point in the season where each game counts 
exponentially greater than the last, because the playoffs are looming around the corner. 

The Cougars can set themselves up for a successful second half of the season that can potentially lead them into the playoffs if they are able to win Thursday night against the Gladiators and continue to win against their regional rivals. 

The Cougars (2-7) face off against the North Phoenix Preparatory Academy Gladiators (0-5) Thursday night at 6:00 p.m. at Phoenix Christian High School.