Basketball Game Preview: Island Coast Gators vs. Mariner Tritons

Island Coast is 1-9 against Mariner since January of 2015 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The two teams will face off at 7:30 p.m. without much rest having both just played. Given that both suffered a loss in their last games, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this matchup.

On Thursday, Island Coast came up short against LaBelle and fell 57-50.

Meanwhile, Mariner was not able to break out of their rough patch on Thursday as the team picked up their 16th straight loss dating back to last season. They were dealt an 84-27 defeat at the hands of Port Charlotte. While losing is never fun, the Tritons can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 721st, while the Pirates are ranked 66th).

Island Coast's loss dropped their record down to 10-7. As for Mariner, their defeat dropped their record down to 0-15.

Island Coast was taken down by Mariner 96-65 in their previous meeting back in February of 2024. Thankfully for Island Coast, Marcus Kelley Jr (who dropped a double-double on 25 points and 12 assists) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.