The Cocoa Beach Minutemen pushed their score all the way to 58 on Thursday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They took a 62-58 hit to the loss column at the hands of Satellite. While losing is never fun, Cocoa Beach can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 377th, while Satellite is ranked 109th).
Cocoa Beach's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Jay Matthews, who scored 25 points along with seven rebounds and three steals, and Max Louis who dropped a double-double on 13 points and ten rebounds. Matthews scored a full 43.1% of Cocoa Beach's points, the ninth time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was Lukas Stevens, who scored nine points.
Even though they lost, Cocoa Beach were smashing the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive rebounds. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Satellite only pulled down three offensive rebounds.
Satellite got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was D'cyple Cataldo out in front who scored 18 points. Those 18 points set a new season-high mark for him. The team also got some help courtesy of Michael Otero, who scored 13 points along with five assists and four steals.
This is the second loss in a row for Cocoa Beach and nudges their season record down to 5-4. As for Satellite, the win was the third in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 7-1.
Both teams are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Cocoa Beach won't have much time to rest: their next contest is against Pineapple Cove Classical Academy at 7:00 p.m. on December 15th. Satellite won't have much time to rest: their next game is against Eau Gallie at 7:30 p.m. on December 15th. Hopefully Eau Gallie focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 23 on Wednesday.
