Basketball Game Preview: Crystal River Pirates vs. Citrus Hurricanes

The Crystal River Pirates will head out to take on the Citrus Hurricanes at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.

Crystal River will bounce into Tuesday's match after beating Nature Coast Tech, who they had gone 1-8 against in their nine prior meetings. Crystal River managed a 63-57 victory over Nature Coast Tech on Friday.

Jake Yost

Assists (Career)

01/17/25 vs Nature Coast Tech	8
12/13/24 vs Citrus	6
12/28/24 vs Jefferson	6
11/22/24 vs Central	6
11/20/24 vs Belleview	5

Crystal River relied on the efforts of Jake Yost, who went 7 of 11 on his way to 21 points and eight assists, and Gavin Eddings, who posted 14 points along with five assists and three steals. Those eight assists gave Yost a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Jordan Dumal, who put up six points and five rebounds.

Crystal River smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 12 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in ten consecutive contests.

Meanwhile, Citrus was not able to break out of their rough patch on Friday as the team picked up their tenth straight defeat. They took a 70-57 hit to the loss column at the hands of Hernando. The Hurricanes were down 62-37 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from.

Crystal River is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last eight games, which provided a nice bump to their 10-7 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 61.4 points per game. As for Citrus, their loss dropped their record down to 1-15.

Everything went Crystal River's way against Citrus in their previous meeting back in December of 2024, as Crystal River made off with a 76-51 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for Crystal River since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.