The Mainland Buccaneers came tearing into Thursday's game with three straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 10.7 points) and they left with even more momentum. They slipped by Mount Vernon 60-59. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
Mainland was led to victory by Narayan Thomas and Nathan Kirk. Thomas scored 17 points along with seven rebounds, while Kirk scored 20 points along with six rebounds. The matchup was Kirk's third in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Elijah Clark, who scored seven points.
Despite the loss, Mount Vernon still got an impressive performance from Xavier Shegog, who dropped a double-double on 19 points and 11 rebounds. Shegog continues to roll, besting his previous point total in each of the last four games he's played. Another player making a difference was Dennis Scott, III, who scored 13 points along with six rebounds.
Mainland's victory bumped their record up to 7-1. As for Mount Vernon, their defeat dropped their record down to 7-5.
Mainland won't have much time to rest: their next matchup is against Tampa Catholic at 5:30 p.m. on December 22nd. One thing working in Tampa Catholic's favor is that they have posted big point totals every time they've taken the court this season. As for Mount Vernon, they will head out on the road to face off against The First Academy at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Hopefully The First Academy focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up six on Thursday.
