Preview: Marco Island Academy Rays vs. Naples Classical Academy
Two dominant guards in Nick Sadler and Daniel Coldiron are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Marco Island Academy Rays will be playing in front of their home fans against the Naples Classical Academy at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the pair posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Last Tuesday, Marco Island Academy lost to The Village School of Naples on the road by a decisive 73-56 margin. Marco Island Academy has not had much luck with The Village School of Naples recently, as the team's come up short the last two times they've met.
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the most dominant came from Veleon Nazarko, who dropped a double-double on 15 points and 11 rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points he has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Sadler, who dropped a double-double on 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Naples Classical came up short against Island Coast on Tuesday and fell 97-86. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their last game on Saturday (67), Naples Classical still had to take the loss.
Despite the loss, Naples Classical saw an underclassman step up: Coldiron scored 29 points. That was a full 33.7% of Naples Classical's points, marking the fifth time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was Colman Gillen, who scored 19 points.
Marco Island Academy's defeat was their fifth straight on the road, which bumped their record down to 4-10. As for Naples Classical, their loss dropped their record down to 5-10.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as the two teams are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Marco Island Academy hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having only averaged 55.1 points per game. However, it's not like Naples Classical struggles in that department as they've been averaging only 57.9 points per game. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Marco Island Academy beat Naples Classical 68-55 in their previous meeting back in November of 2023. Will Marco Island Academy repeat their success, or does Naples Classical have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
