After five games on the road, Gulf is heading back home. They will take on the Mitchell Mustangs at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both teams will really light up the scoreboard.
On Monday, it was a hard-fought contest, but Gulf had to settle for a 64-61 defeat against Lecanto. The defeat unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for Gulf in their matchups with Lecanto: they've now lost six in a row.
The losing side was boosted by Jeremiah Long, who scored 18 points along with three steals. Long scored a full 29.5% of Gulf's points, the fifth time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. William Ruffin was another key contributor, scoring nine points along with nine assists and five rebounds.
Even though Mitchell has not done well against Countryside recently (they were 0-5 in their previous five matchups), they didn't let the past get in their way on Friday. Mitchell came out on top against Countryside by a score of 58-51. The victory was all the more spectacular given Mitchell's disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 640th, while Countryside is ranked 205th).
It was another big night for Ben Unger, who scored 21 points along with seven rebounds and four steals. The contest was Unger's seventh in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Connor Peterson, who scored 16 points along with five assists and five rebounds.
Gulf bumped their record down to 0-5 with that loss, which was their eighth straight on the road dating back to last season. As for Mitchell, the win makes it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 2-5.
Gulf was dealt a bruising 75-32 defeat at the hands of Mitchell when the teams last played back in December of 2022. The match was all but decided by halftime, at which point Gulf was down 50-22.
