Crystal River has enjoyed a two-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will challenge the Dixie County Bears at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Crystal River scored the most points they've had all season to find success on Tuesday. They came out on top against Weeki Wachee by a score of 85-76. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Crystal River to victory, but perhaps none more so than Zachary Hamilton, who scored 28 points along with seven rebounds and six assists. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Hamilton has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Ej Jenkins, who dropped a double-double on 23 points and 12 rebounds.
Dixie County proved they can win big last Tuesday (they won by 21) but on Friday they proved they can win the close ones too. They came out on top in a nail-biter against Trenton and snuck past 47-45. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Dixie County.
Crystal River's victory ended a three-game drought at home and bumped them up to 9-13. As for Dixie County, they are on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight matchups, which provided a massive bump to their 11-7 record this season.
Crystal River was able to grind out a solid win over the Bears when the teams last played back in December of 2023, winning 65-58. The rematch might be a little tougher for Crystal River since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.