Preview: Bartram Trail Bears vs. Atlantic Coast Stingrays
The Bartram Trail Bears will be playing at home against the Atlantic Coast Stingrays at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.
Bartram Trail's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Friday after their third straight loss. They were just a bucket shy of victory and fell 59-58 to Palatka. The loss unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for Bartram Trail in their matchups with Palatka: they've now lost seven in a row.
Bartram Trail's loss came about despite a quality game from Landon Geren, who scored 24 points along with seven rebounds and two steals. Another player making a difference was Samuel Shields, who scored eight points along with six rebounds and three blocks.
Atlantic Coast suffered their biggest defeat yet this season on Saturday. They ended up on the wrong side of a tough 57-33 walloping at the hands of First Coast. While losing is never fun, Atlantic Coast can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 679th, while First Coast is ranked 218th).
Bartram Trail has been struggling recently, as they've lost seven of their last eight games, which put a noticeable dent in their 6-8 record this season. As for Atlantic Coast, they bumped their record down to 1-17 with that defeat, which was their 11th straight on the road dating back to last season.
Bartram Trail and Atlantic Coast were neck-and-neck in their previous matchup back in December of 2022, but Bartram Trail came up empty-handed after a 39-38 defeat. Thankfully for Bartram Trail, Josiah McClary (who scored 19 points along with seven rebounds and two steals) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
