Preview: Mainland Buccaneers vs. New Smyrna Beach Barracudas
Mainland is 8-2 against New Smyrna Beach since January of 2016, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The Mainland Buccaneers on the road again and play against the New Smyrna Beach Barracudas at 7:00 p.m. on January 26th. Mainland has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 452 points over their last six contests.
Mainland can now show off seven landslide victories after their most recent matchup on Wednesday. They put the hurt on Atlantic with a sharp 77-52 win. Given Mainland's advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 54th, while Atlantic is ranked 273rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Mainland's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Narayan Thomas, who dropped a double-double on 20 points and ten rebounds, and Nathan Kirk, who dropped a double-double on 25 points and 11 rebounds. That's the first time this season that Kirk pulled down eight or more rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Seven Simmons, who scored 12 points.
Meanwhile, New Smyrna Beach waltzed into their contest on Wednesday with four straight wins but they left with five. They skirted past Deltona 62-59. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest victory New Smyrna Beach has posted since December 28, 2023.
Mainland is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six contests, which provided a nice bump to their 15-5 record this season. As for New Smyrna Beach, their victory bumped their record up to 16-4.
Everything came up roses for Mainland against New Smyrna Beach when the teams last played back in February of 2021 as the team secured a 60-30 win. Will Mainland repeat their success, or does New Smyrna Beach have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
