The Mourning Sharks are on the road again on Wednesday and play against the Carol City Chiefs at 4:30 p.m. on December 27th. Having both just faced considerable losses, both teams are looking to turn things around.
Mourning pushed their score all the way to 56 on Wednesday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They had to suffer through a rough 88-56 loss at the hands of Miami Beach. While losing is never fun, Mourning can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 697th, while Miami Beach is ranked 339th).
Despite the defeat, Mourning got a solid performance out of Kristopher Jean-Jacques, who scored 17 points. That's the first time this season that Jean-Jacques scored 15 or more points. Omar Pigott was another key contributor, scoring 12 points.
Meanwhile, Carol City took a serious blow against Central on Thursday, falling 70-36. Carol City has not had much luck with Central recently, as the team's come up short the last seven times they've met.
Carol City's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Damari Maxi, who scored 11 points, and Jahquori Lombrage who scored ten points. Lombrage scored a full 27.8% of Carol City's points, the sixth time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points.
Mourning's loss was their third straight on the road, which bumped their record down to 1-4. Carol City's record is now 1-6.
Wednesday's contest is shaping up to be a scrappy match: Mourning have been smashing the glass this season, having only averaged 33.4 rebounds per game. It's a different story for Carol City, though, as they've been averaging only 5.1 rebounds per game. Given Mourning's sizeable advantage in that area, Carol City will need to find a way to close that gap.
Mourning didn't have too much breathing room in their contest against Carol City when the teams last played back in November, but they still walked away with a 46-42 win. Will Mourning repeat their success, or does Carol City have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
