Basketball Game Preview: Haines City Hornets vs. Discovery Spartans

Haines City hasn't had much luck against Discovery recently, but that could start to change on Tuesday. The Haines City Hornets will venture away from home to square off against the Discovery Spartans at 8:00 p.m. Haines City is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 58.7 points per game this season.

Last Friday, even if it wasn't a dominant performance, Haines City beat Poinciana 49-44. The win 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's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Dequarious Marks, who posted 13 points and five steals, and Eddy Hyppolite Jr., who had 12 points in addition to seven boards 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 earned five points and three steals.

Meanwhile, Discovery had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 11.5 points) and they went ahead and made it three on Saturday. They beat the Warhawks by the very same score they won with in their prior game: 80-64.

Discovery pushed their record up to 17-5 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 77.0 points per game. As for Haines City, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 11-10.

Haines City was taken down by Discovery 87-60 in their previous meeting back in January of 2024. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Discovery's Darius Livingston, who went 9 for 11 on his way to 21 points along with seven assists and five steals. Now that Haines City knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.