The Navarre Raiders will be playing in front of their home fans against the Pace Patriots at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Navarre has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 720 points over their last ten games.
Navarre suffered their closest defeat yet this season on Tuesday. They fell just short of Choctawhatchee by a score of 77-75. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their last game on Friday (64), Navarre still had to take the loss.
Navarre might have lost, but man, Darius Cunningham was a machine: he dropped a double-double on 40 points and ten rebounds. That was a full 53.3% of Navarre's points, marking the fourth time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was David Clearman, who scored eight points along with five rebounds and two blocks.
Meanwhile, Pace's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Friday after their third straight loss. They lost to Milton at home by a decisive 48-32 margin. While losing is never fun, Pace can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 584th, while Milton is ranked 113th).
Navarre's loss dropped their record down to 10-9. As for Pace, they have been struggling recently, as they've lost ten of their last 11 matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 3-14 record this season.
Navarre took their victory against Pace in their previous meeting back in December of 2023 by a conclusive 66-42. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Pace's Joeseph Skipworth, who dropped a double-double on 19 points and 14 rebounds. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Navarre still be able to contain him? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
