I would do that, as it takes excess processing time and memory, and that surely must be avoided to be "the best practice".

Note, this code works sometimes, but not always :)

But they can't, as 4 is the maximum score per match.

This solution is the best practice not because it takes less lines, but because it is more readable and bug-proof.

That's true, but:
"You can assume, for the purpose of this kata, that the supplied array will not be empty."