The Venice Indians were the 62-60 winner over the Lemon Bay Manta Rays when they last played one another back in December of 2023, but their luck changed this time around. Venice fell to Lemon Bay 55-51. Venice's loss continues an unfortunate trend for the squad, making it three in a row.
Several Indians players turned in solid performances, despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Chad Fleming, who scored 16 points along with five rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Fleming has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Zeke Settles, who scored nine points.
Lemon Bay can attribute much of their success to Cooper Benedict, who scored 20 points along with eight rebounds and two steals. Elias Gambrell was another key contributor, scoring 12 points along with eight rebounds.
Venice has been struggling recently, as they've lost six of their last seven games, which put a noticeable dent in their 9-12 record this season. As for Lemon Bay, their victory bumped their record up to 6-12.
Venice will look to defend their home court on Friday against Sarasota at 7:30 p.m. Sarasota is looking to tack on another W to their five-game streak on the road. Lemon Bay won't have much time to rest: their next match is against LaBelle at 7:00 p.m. on January 24th.
