The Lecanto Panthers had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 40 points), and they went ahead and made it three on Saturday. They came out on top in a nail-biter against North Marion and snuck past 53-51. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest victory Lecanto has posted yet this season.
Leading Lecanto to victory were Jt Tipton and Braylen Moore. Tipton scored 16 points along with six assists and five rebounds, while Moore scored 28 points. Tipton is absolutely dominating the steal category: he's posted at least two every time he's taken the court this season. Another player making a difference was Christian McAboy, who scored four points along with 11 rebounds and three blocks.
North Marion lost despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Jerdarrius Jackson, who scored 12 points along with six assists and six rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Coy Sizemore, who scored 19 points.
Even though they lost, North Marion were working as a unit and finished the game with 17 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.
Lecanto is on a roll lately: they've won 11 of their last 13 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 14-4 record this season. As for North Marion, their loss was their fifth straight on the road, which dropped their record down to 7-9.
Both squads are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Lecanto will take on Nature Coast Tech at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Nature Coast Tech will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Florida Rankings (they are ranked 488th, while Lecanto is ranked 196th). As for North Marion, they will look to defend their home court on Tuesday against West Port at 7:30 p.m.
