Two dominant players in Izaiah Bacchus and Tavian Cook are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Island Coast Gators will head out on the road to take on the Gateway Eagles at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Both teams come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Island Coast scored the most points they've had all season to find success on Tuesday. They came out on top against Naples Classical by a score of 97-86. Having run the score up that high, both teams probably have some extra defensive drills coming up.
Jose Bido went supernova for Island Coast, scoring 31 points along with seven steals and five assists. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Bido has scored all season. Roanin Solis-Valdez was another key contributor, scoring 13 points along with four steals.
Meanwhile, Gateway had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 8 points), and they went ahead and made it three on Tuesday. They walked away with an 84-75 victory over Naples. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
Gateway's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Cook, who scored 20 points along with five steals. Cook has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last eight times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Qur'an Pettyjohn Jr, who scored 16 points.
Island Coast pushed their record up to 7-9 with that victory, which was their third straight on the road. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 81.7 points per game. As for Gateway, they are on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last ten contests, which provided a nice bump to their 12-2 record this season.
Keep an eye on the arc in Thursday's game: Island Coast have made nailing deep shots look easy this year this season, having only averaged 5.7 threes per game. It's a different story for Gateway, though, as they've been averaging only 3.5 threes per game. Given Island Coast's sizeable advantage in that area, Gateway will need to find a way to close that gap.
Island Coast took a serious blow against Gateway when the teams last played back in January of 2023, falling 67-25. Can Island Coast avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
