After a string of five wins, the South Plantation Paladins's good fortune finally ran out on Monday. They fell to St. Thomas Aquinas 53-48. While losing is never fun, South Plantation can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 29th, while St. Thomas Aquinas is ranked fourth).
When it comes to explaining why South Plantation lost, one person who can't be blamed is Kaiden Francis. Despite the final result, he scored 20 points. Francis scored a full 41.7% of South Plantation's points, the second time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Jaymar Previl was another key contributor, scoring 5 points along with 3 steals.
St. Thomas Aquinas got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Matt Andreopoulos out in front who scored 9 points along with 5 rebounds. Andreopoulos 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 Drake (DJ) Sandi, who scored 11 points along with 5 rebounds and 3 steals.
South Plantation's loss dropped their record down to 5-1. As for St. Thomas Aquinas, the victory for they keeps them at an undefeated 5-0.
South Plantation will be playing at home against Coconut Creek at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. As for St. Thomas Aquinas, they will face off against Sports Leadership & Management at 5:30 p.m. on Friday.
