The Pine Knights and the Master's Academy Patriots will compete for holiday cheer at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Pine is looking for their season's first win.
Pine is headed into the game out to prove that what happened against South Fork on Thursday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. The Knights had to suffer through a 70-23 loss at the hands of the Bulldogs. While losing is never fun, the Knights can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 567th, while the Bulldogs are ranked 195th).
Meanwhile, it may have taken overtime to finish the job, but Master's Academy ultimately got the result they hoped for on Monday. They escaped with a win against Jupiter Christian by the margin of a single free throw, 27-26. While the Patriots didn't have the best season last year (they finished 10-13), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past.
Pine better focus on containing Naomi Powell and Phoenix Henderson as the pair were huge in Master's Academy's win. Powell posted 11 points, while Henderson earned seven points. That makes it seven consecutive games in which Powell has scored at least a third of Master's Academy's points.
Master's Academy pushed their record up to 6-1 with the victory, which was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season. The home wins came thanks in part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 15.9 points on average this season. As for Pine, their defeat dropped their record down to 0-5.
Everything came up roses for Pine against Master's Academy in their previous matchup back in December of 2023, as the team secured a 55-19 victory. Will the Knights repeat their success, or do the Patriots have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
