Basketball Recap: Lecanto Finds Playoff Glory Versus New Smyrna Beach

It's playoff time, and Lecanto had no trouble coming through when it counted. They took down the New Smyrna Beach Barracudas 64-46 on Wednesday. Given the Panthers' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 99th, while the Barracudas are ranked 200th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

JT Tipton

Three Point Percentage

02/12/25 vs New Smyrna Beach	56%
02/07/25 @ Leesburg	20%
02/05/25 vs Vanguard	33%
01/27/25 @ South Sumter	67%
01/25/25 vs Gulf	64%
+ 21 more games

Leading Lecanto to victory were Braylen Moore and JT Tipton. Moore went 8-for-17 on his way to 25 points, while Tipton went 5-for-11 en route to 18 points. Thanks to that strong game, Tipton now owns an excellent 40.3% three-point shooting accuracy. Another player making a difference was Josh Patrick, who posted seven points along with seven rebounds and six assists.

Lecanto is on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last ten games. That's provided a nice bump to their 25-3 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 73.0 points over those games. New Smyrna Beach's loss dropped their record down to 20-8.

Lecanto wasted no time getting back out on the court and has already played their next contest, a 48-43 win against Auburndale on the 17th. New Smyrna Beach does not have any more games scheduled as of now.