Recap: Atlantic Coast Stingrays vs. First Coast Buccaneers
The Atlantic Coast Stingrays suffered their biggest defeat yet this season on Saturday. Their rough 57-33 loss to First Coast might stick with them for a while. 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 663rd, while First Coast is ranked 215th).
Despite the loss, Atlantic Coast still got an impressive performance from Ben Ward, who scored 15 points. Another player making a difference was Glenn Lawrence, who scored four points along with six rebounds and four blocks.
First Coast's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Israel Gaines led the charge by scoring 16 points along with two steals. Gaines has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last three times he's played. Lonnell McCall was another key contributor, scoring four points along with nine rebounds and three steals.
Atlantic Coast's loss was their 11th straight on the road dating back to last season, which bumped their record down to 1-17. As for First Coast, the win was the fourth in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 12-5.
Atlantic Coast will be staying on the road on Tuesday to face off against Bartram Trail at 7:30 p.m. on January 16th. Bartram Trail is coming into the matchup on a three-game losing streak. As for First Coast, they will look to defend their home court on Wednesday against Ribault at 7:00 p.m. Hopefully Ribault focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up eight last Thursday.
