The Mainland Buccaneers on the road again on Wednesday and play against the Atlantic Sharks at 7:00 p.m. on January 24th. One thing working in Mainland's favor is that they have posted big point totals in their last five matchups.
Mainland stacked a sixth blowout win onto their ever-increasing hoard on Saturday. They took their game on the road with ease, bagging a 74-37 win over Pine Ridge. The game was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 46-26.
Mainland's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Nathan Kirk, who scored 20 points along with seven steals and six assists, and Narayan Thomas, who dropped a double-double on 27 points and ten rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Thomas has scored all season. DeAndre Newland was another key contributor, scoring eight points along with nine rebounds.
Meanwhile, Atlantic came tearing into Saturday's game with three straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 13 points) and they left with even more momentum. They snuck past Flagler Palm Coast with a 68-62 win. Having run the score up that high, both teams probably have some extra defensive drills coming up.
Mainland has been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five games, which provided a nice bump to their 14-5 record this season. As for Atlantic, their win bumped their record up to 11-7.
Everything came up roses for Mainland against Atlantic when the teams last played back in January of 2023 as the squad secured a 67-30 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for Mainland since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
