Basketball Recap: Jonah Pio's Big Game Can't Quite Lead Seminole Ridge over New Smyrna Beach

If Seminole Ridge was riding high fresh off their 73-43 takedown of Dreyfoos School of the Arts last Wednesday, their most recent game may have dampened their spirits a bit. The Seminole Ridge Hawks took a 58-45 hit to the loss column at the hands of the New Smyrna Beach Barracudas on Friday. While losing is never fun, the Hawks can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 717th, while the Barracudas are ranked 267th).

Several Hawks players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Jonah Pio, who almost dropped a double-double on 17 points and nine boards. Matthew Sroda was another key player, putting up 11 points and seven rebounds.

It was another big night for Owen Mclaughlin, who went 8 for 14 on his way to 17 points and seven boards for New Smyrna Beach. Mclaughlin's evening made it four games in a row in which he has scored at least ten points. Xavier Evans also deserves some recognition as he scored his first points of the season.

Seminole Ridge has been struggling recently as they've lost seven of their last eight games, which put a noticeable dent in their 3-17 record this season. As for New Smyrna Beach, the win was the fourth in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 14-6.

It'll be a Battle of the Birds when the Seminole Ridge Hawks duke it out with the FAU High Owls at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. As for New Smyrna Beach, they didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next contest, a 40-34 victory against Spanish River on the 25th.