Preview: Braden River Pirates vs. Cardinal Mooney Cougars
Two dominant guards in Marcus Schade and Connor Heald are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Braden River Pirates will head out on the road to face off against the Cardinal Mooney Cougars at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Both teams are coming into the matchup red-hot, with Braden River sitting on four straight wins and Cardinal Mooney on five.
On Tuesday, Braden River didn't have too much trouble with Southeast at home as they won 57-42. Given Braden River's advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 116th, while Southeast is ranked 369th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Bradenton Christian typically has all the answers at home, but on Friday Cardinal Mooney proved too difficult a challenge. They secured a 61-55 W over the Panthers. Having run the score up that high, both teams probably have some extra defensive drills coming up.
Cardinal Mooney got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Heald out in front who scored 23 points along with six assists. Heald has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last six times he's played. Another player making a difference was Kevin O'donoghue, who scored 23 points.
Braden River's win was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 14-6. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 69.7 points per game. As for Cardinal Mooney, they have been performing well recently as they've won seven of their last nine matches, which provided a nice bump to their 13-7 record this season.
Things could have been worse for Braden River, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 61-44 loss to Cardinal Mooney in their previous matchup back in January of 2023. Can Braden River avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
