Atlantic Coast has been on the road for two straight, but on Thursday they'll finally head home. They will take on the Ponte Vedra Sharks at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.
Atlantic Coast suffered their biggest defeat yet this season on Saturday. Their tough 57-33 defeat to First Coast might stick with them for a while. While losing is never fun, Atlantic Coast can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 663rd, while First Coast is ranked 215th).
Ben Ward put forth a good effort for the losing side as he scored 15 points. Another player making a difference was Glenn Lawrence, who scored four points along with six rebounds and four blocks.
Meanwhile, after a string of three wins, Ponte Vedra's good fortune finally ran out on Tuesday. They took a 66-59 hit to the loss column at the hands of Creekside. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Trace Westercamp, who scored 13 points along with six rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points he has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Tyler Cowan, who scored eight points along with five rebounds.
Atlantic Coast bumped their record down to 1-17 with that defeat, which was their 11th straight on the road dating back to last season. As for Ponte Vedra, their defeat ended a six-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 12-6.
Thursday's matchup is shaping up to be a scrappy matchup: Atlantic Coast have been smashing the glass this season, having only averaged 22.6 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Ponte Vedra struggles in that department as they've been averaging only 28.9 rebounds per game. Given Atlantic Coast's sizeable advantage in that area, Ponte Vedra will need to find a way to close that gap.
Atlantic Coast might still be hurting after the 63-38 defeat they got from Ponte Vedra in their previous meeting back in February of 2022. Thankfully for Atlantic Coast, Luke Pirris (who scored 16 points along with eight rebounds and two steals) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
