Basketball Recap: Mainland's Luck Takes a Turn for the Worse on Monday

If Mainland was feeling good fresh off their 65-45 takedown of North Florida Educational Institute last Saturday, their most recent game may have dampened their spirits a bit. The Mainland Buccaneers fell to the Fleming Island Golden Eagles 71-66. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game last Saturday (65), the Buccaneers still had to take the loss.

Despite the loss, Mainland saw an underclassman step up: sophomore Kade Manley went 8 of 19 on his way to 20 points and three steals. Manley's afternoon made it three games in a row in which he has scored at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Beegie Gordon, who went 5 for 9 en route to 14 points.

Even though they lost, Mainland smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive rebounds in five consecutive matchups.

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Fleming Island to victory, but perhaps none more so than Carson Crawford, who dropped a double-double on 20 points and 13 rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Kameron Baskin, who posted seven points along with eight steals and seven assists.

Mainland moved to 10-9 with that defeat, which also ended their three-game winning streak. As for Fleming Island, they have been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five games, which provided a nice bump to their 15-5 record this season.

Mainland didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next contest, a 79-76 victory against Jordan Christian Prep on the 22nd. As for Fleming Island, they also wasted no time getting back out on the court and have already played their next match, a 53-43 win against Providence School on the 24th.