Basketball Recap: Haines City Gets Big Win over Higher-Ranked Poinciana

Haines City won the last time they faced Poinciana and things went their way on Friday too. The Haines City Hornets snuck past the Poinciana Eagles with a 49-44 win. The victory was all the more spectacular given the Hornets' disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 314th, while the Eagles are ranked 150th).

Haines City had a senior duo take command as Dequarious Marks posted 13 points and five steals and Eddy Hyppolite Jr. earned 12 points in addition to seven rebounds and five steals. Hyppolite Jr. has been hot, having posted two or more steals the last five times he's played. Another player making a difference was Derek Robles, who put up five points and three steals.

Despite the loss, Poinciana still got an impressive performance from Javonte Simpson-Lee, who dropped a double-double on 14 points and 12 boards. The team also got some help courtesy of Savion Viser, who had nine points and seven rebounds.

Haines City now has a winning record of 11-10. As for Poinciana, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 14-7.

Haines City will head out on the road to face off against Discovery at 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Discovery knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with 55 points or more in their past 12 matchups -- so hopefully Haines City likes a good challenge. As for Poinciana, they will look to defend their home court on Monday against Tohopekaliga at 7:00 p.m. Poinciana is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 57 points per game this season.