After flying high against the Lake Wales Highlanders last Friday, the Bartow Yellow Jackets came back down to earth. Bartow's tough 80-56 loss to Winter Haven on Thursday might stick with them for a while. While losing is never fun, Bartow can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 176th, while Winter Haven is ranked fourth).
Bartow's defeat came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Messiah Borders, who scored 16 points along with five assists. That's the first time this season that Borders scored 15 or more points. Antwan Willis was another key contributor, scoring 13 points.
It was another big night for Jamie Phillips jr, who scored 21 points along with six rebounds and five assists for Winter Haven. Another player making a difference was Tyrese Mayo, who scored 14 points along with five rebounds and three steals.
Bartow's defeat was their third straight on the road, which bumped their record down to 8-8. As for Winter Haven, the victory (which was their 14th in a row) raised their record to 14-1.
Bartow will head out on the road to challenge Lake Gibson at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. As for Winter Haven, they will face off against Florida State University High School at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday. One thing working in Florida State University High School's favor is that they have posted big point totals in their last six games.
