Preview: Pinellas Park Patriots vs. East Lake Eagles
Pinellas Park has enjoyed a three-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will square off against the East Lake Eagles at 7:45 p.m. on Thursday. Given that the pair suffered a loss in their last game, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this matchup.
Last Thursday, Pinellas Park was beaten by St. Petersburg 65-26. While losing is never fun, Pinellas Park can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 730th, while St. Petersburg is ranked 180th).
East Lake has been a dominant force so far, but they're in the middle of a mini-slump at the moment. They were just a bucket shy of victory on Friday and fell 55-54 to Gulf. East Lake found out winning isn't easy when your three-point shooting is a whole 21% worse than the opposition.
Despite their loss, East Lake saw several players rise to the challenge and make noteworthy plays. Jeremiah Cooper, who scored 15 points, was perhaps the best of all. The game was Cooper's fifth in a row with at least ten points. Tyler Becker was another key contributor, scoring ten points along with four steals.
Pinellas Park bumped their record down to 0-6 with that defeat, which was their 13th straight at home dating back to last season. As for East Lake, their loss dropped their record down to 7-3.
Pinellas Park was taken down by East Lake 84-29 when the teams last played back in January of 2019. Can Pinellas Park avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
