Basketball Game Preview: New Smyrna Beach Barracudas vs. Seminole Ridge Hawks

The New Smyrna Beach Barracudas will head out to challenge the Seminole Ridge Hawks at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. New Smyrna Beach is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 66.7 points per game this season.

On Tuesday, New Smyrna Beach needed a bit of extra time to put away Deltona. They came out on top against the Wolves by a score of 93-86. Given the Barracudas' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 272nd, while the Wolves are ranked 565th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

New Smyrna Beach's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Tyler Mcknight, who went 8 of 16 on his way to 25 points, and Owen Mclaughlin, who dropped a double-double on 20 points and 13 rebounds. The dominant performance gave Mcknight a new career-high in points. Another player making a difference was Robert Hazard, who posted ten points and seven boards.

New Smyrna Beach smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 12 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in four consecutive matches.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Seminole Ridge). They simply couldn't be stopped on Wednesday as they easily beat Dreyfoos School of the Arts 73-43. The win was a breath of fresh air for the Hawks as it put an end to their six-game losing streak.

New Smyrna Beach's record now sits at 13-6. As for Seminole Ridge, their record is now 3-16.

New Smyrna Beach didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Seminole Ridge when the teams last played back in February of 2024, but they still walked away with a 42-37 victory. Will New Smyrna Beach repeat their success, or does Seminole Ridge have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.