Preview: Robinson Knights vs. Plant City Raiders
Robinson is 0-3 against Plant City since December of 2016 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. Having just played yesterday, the Robinson Knights will head out on the road to face off against the Plant City Raiders at 8:00 p.m. on January 23rd. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Robinson posted their biggest win yet this season on Monday. They claimed a resounding 69-30 victory over Brandon on the road. The contest was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 38-16.
LaJesse Harrold continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, scoring 18 points along with nine rebounds and two steals. That's the first time this season that he grabbed two or more steals. Zyon Floyd was another key contributor, scoring nine points along with eight steals and five rebounds.
Meanwhile, Plant City waltzed into their contest on Friday with four straight wins but they left with five. They came out on top against Hillsborough by a score of 55-43. Given Plant City's advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 110th, while Hillsborough is ranked 342nd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Leroy Lucas and Gavin Tinsley were among the main playmakers for Plant City as the former scored 12 points along with eight rebounds and five assists and the latter dropped a double-double on 16 points and 16 rebounds. Tinsley has been hot recently, having posted eight or more rebounds the last six times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Jamin Andrews, who scored six points along with ten rebounds and two blocks.
Robinson's victory was their fifth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 13-8. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 71.4 points per game. Plant City's record now sits at 17-2.
Keep an eye on the arc in Tuesday's matchup: Robinson have made nailing deep shots look easy this year this season, having only averaged 4.4 threes per game. It's a different story for Plant City, though, as they've been averaging only 4.1 threes per game. Given Robinson's sizeable advantage in that area, Plant City will need to find a way to close that gap.
Robinson lost to Plant City on the road by a decisive 70-53 margin when the teams last played back in December of 2022. Thankfully for Robinson, Elijah Dawson (who scored 20 points along with nine rebounds) 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.
