Basketball Game Preview: St. Petersburg Catholic Barons vs. Shorecrest Prep Chargers

The St. Petersburg Catholic Barons will face off against the Shorecrest Prep Chargers at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. St. Petersburg Catholic is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 50.2 points per game this season.

Last Friday, St. Petersburg Catholic was just a bucket shy of victory and fell 44-43 to Bishop McLaughlin Catholic. The contest marked the Barons' lowest-scoring matchup so far this season.

Despite the defeat, St. Petersburg Catholic saw an underclassman step up: sophomore Malik Newton dropped a double-double on ten points and ten boards. That's the most boards Newton has posted since back in December of 2023. Another player making a difference was David Reilly, who posted 11 points in addition to seven boards and three steals.

Meanwhile, even if it wasn't a dominant performance, Shorecrest Prep beat Out-of-Door Academy 49-43 on Tuesday. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Chargers.

Shorecrest Prep's victory bumped their record up to 2-0. As for St. Petersburg Catholic, their loss dropped their record down to 3-2.

St. Petersburg Catholic might still be hurting after the 63-42 defeat they got from Shorecrest Prep when the teams last played back in January. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Shorecrest Prep's Nickolas Bearden, who had 34 points. Now that St. Petersburg Catholic knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.