Preview: Columbus Explorers vs. Coral Gables Cavaliers
The Columbus Explorers will square off against the Coral Gables Cavaliers at TBD on Thursday. Columbus has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 1,862 points over their last 24 contests.
Columbus stacked a tenth blowout win onto their ever-increasing hoard on Thursday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Florida Christian 84-45 at home. With Columbus ahead 50-20 at the half, the match was all but over already.
Columbus' win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Jase Richardson, who scored 21 points along with eight rebounds and five assists. Richardson has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last four times he's played. Another player making a difference was Malik Abdullahi, who dropped a double-double on 19 points and ten rebounds.
Meanwhile, it can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but Coral Gables had no problem doing just that on Tuesday. They enjoyed a cozy 61-45 victory over the Falcons. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Coral Gables.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Coral Gables to victory, but perhaps none more so than Marcellis Williams, who scored 19 points along with seven steals and six rebounds. Williams continues to roll, besting his previous point total in each of the last four games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Cristian Andres Paredes, who scored 20 points along with six rebounds.
Columbus' win was their 15th straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 20-4. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 81.3 points per game. As for Coral Gables, they have been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five contests, which provided a nice bump to their 15-7 record this season.
Columbus took their victory against Coral Gables in their previous matchup back in February of 2022 by a conclusive 67-43. Does Columbus have another victory up their sleeve, or will Coral Gables turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
