Recap: Gulf Buccaneers vs. Lecanto Panthers
The Gulf Buccaneers are still winless after their matchup against the Lecanto Panthers on Monday, but the team can take solace in the fact it was the closest they've come to winning. Gulf fell just short of Lecanto by a score of 64-61. Gulf has struggled against Lecanto recently, as their contest on Monday was their sixth consecutive lost matchup.
When it comes to explaining why Gulf lost, one person who can't be blamed is Jeremiah Long. Despite the final result, he scored 18 points along with three steals. Long scored a full 29.5% of Gulf's points, the fifth time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was William Ruffin, who scored nine points along with nine assists and five rebounds.
Even though they lost, Gulf were working as a unit and finished the game with 17 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Lecanto to victory, but perhaps none more so than Jt Tipton, who scored 14 points along with six assists and six rebounds. The match was Tipton's seventh in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Tez Joseph, who scored 12 points along with three steals.
Gulf's loss was their eighth straight on the road dating back to last season, which bumped their record down to 0-5. As for Lecanto, the victory makes it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 5-2.
Gulf will be playing in front of their home fans against Mitchell at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Mitchell knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with flashy point totals in its past four games -- so hopefully Gulf likes a good challenge. Lecanto won't have much time to rest: their next match is against Springstead at 7:30 p.m. on December 12th. Springstead will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Florida Rankings (they are ranked 227th, while Lecanto is ranked 95th).
