The East Lee County Jaguars pushed their score all the way to 56 on Thursday, but even that wasn't enough to win. Their tough 76-56 defeat to Gateway might stick with them for a while. While losing is never fun, East Lee County can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 517th, while Gateway is ranked 129th).
Tavian Cook was his usual excellent self, dropping a double-double on 30 points and 18 rebounds for Gateway. Nehemiah Clermont was another key contributor, dropping a double-double on 11 points and ten rebounds.
East Lee County dropped their record down to 6-9 with that loss, which was their third straight on the road. As for Gateway, the win (which was their seventh in a row) raised their record to 16-2.
East Lee County will be staying on the road on Friday to face off against First Baptist Academy at 7:30 p.m. on January 26th. First Baptist Academy is coming into the matchup hot, having won their last six games. As for Gateway, they will look to defend their home court on Friday against Mariner at 7:30 p.m. Hopefully Mariner focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 19 last Saturday.
