Basketball Game Preview: Palm Bay Pirates vs. Providence School Stallions

The Palm Bay Pirates and the Providence School Stallions will round out the year against one another at at 11:30 a.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both will really light up the scoreboard.

Last Friday, Palm Bay came up short against Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy and fell 70-57. The Pirates have struggled against the Tigers recently, as the game was their sixth consecutive lost matchup.

Palm Bay's defeat shouldn't obscure the performances of Kamari Nesmith, who went 6 of 10 on his way to 14 points and five boards, and Ryann Brown, who went 7 of 17 on his way to 16 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Elijah Buffong, who posted ten points and five assists.

Even though they lost, Palm Bay was working as a unit and finished the game with 14 assists. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their assist total in three consecutive matches.

Meanwhile, Providence School didn't have too much trouble with Matanzas on Saturday as they won 56-41. Given the Stallions' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 80th, while the Pirates are ranked 424th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Providence School's win came from a few key players Palm Bay will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was William Stewart, who went 6 of 13 on his way to 13 points and six boards. The team also got some help courtesy of Colton Nuualiitia, who put up eight points and 12 rebounds.

Providence School has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight contests, which provided a nice bump to their 9-3 record this season. As for Palm Bay, their loss ended an eight-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 4-6.