Basketball Game Preview: St. Francis Gladiators vs. Manistee Mariners

The St. Francis Gladiators will head out to take on the Manistee Mariners at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Given that the two teams suffered a loss in their last games, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this contest.

On Monday, St. Francis ended up a good deal behind Buckley and lost 52-38. While losing is never fun, the Gladiators can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Michigan basketball rankings (they are ranked 281st, while the Bears are ranked 93rd).

Meanwhile, Manistee had to suffer through an 83-28 loss at the hands of McBain. The game marked the Mariners' lowest-scoring matchup so far this season.

This is the second loss in a row for Manistee and nudges their season record down to 9-8. As for St. Francis, their loss dropped their record down to 7-7.

St. Francis strolled past Manistee in their previous matchup back in March of 2023 by a score of 70-54. Will the Gladiators repeat their success, or do the Mariners have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.