Preview: Vine Christian Academy Kings vs. Southland Christian FLAMES
Vine Christian Academy is 0-8 against Southland Christian since February of 2021 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Monday. The Vine Christian Academy Kings' road trip will continue as they head out to face the Southland Christian FLAMES at 6:30 p.m. on February 12th. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Last Thursday, Vine Christian Academy came up short against The Rock and fell 74-67. While losing is never fun, Vine Christian Academy can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 338th, while The Rock is ranked 27th).
Vine Christian Academy might have lost, but man, Keniel Velez was a machine: he dropped a double-double on 31 points and 12 rebounds. That was a full 46.3% of Vine Christian Academy's points, marking the 14th time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Ektor Vazquez was another key contributor, scoring four points along with four steals.
Meanwhile, after a string of eight wins, Southland Christian's good fortune finally ran out on Friday. They took a 74-66 hit to the loss column at the hands of Downey Christian.
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was JOMAR COLLAZO, who scored 17 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Derek Lopez, who scored 18 points.
Vine Christian Academy has traveled a rocky road recently having lost four of their last five contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 11-11 record this season. As for Southland Christian, their loss ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 20-8.
Monday's match will pit two of the most dominant guards against one another: Velez and Lopez. Velez has been dynamite this season: he has averaged 30.4 points and 3.1 steals. For his part, Lopez has averaged 16.3 points and 1.3 steals.
Vine Christian Academy came up short against Southland Christian in their previous matchup back in November of 2023, falling 75-64. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Southland Christian's Juan Rios, who scored 25 points along with five assists and two steals. Now that Vine Christian Academy knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
