A feisty cat fight is on tap when the Gadsden County Jaguars take on the St. John Paul II Panthers at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday... St. John Paul II took a loss in their last match and will be looking to turn the tables on Gadsden County, who comes in off a win.
Gadsden County took a loss when they played away from home on Friday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Saturday. They narrowly escaped with a win as the squad sidled past Munroe 77-75.
Meanwhile, St. John Paul II was not able to break out of their rough patch on Thursday as the team picked up their eighth straight defeat. They fell 59-50 to Godby. While losing is never fun, the Panthers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 383rd, while the Cougars are ranked 86th).
Gadsden County will have to contain Mario Forbes as he made an impact in St. John Paul II's last game. He dropped a double-double on 24 points and 19 boards. That was a full 48% of St. John Paul II's points, marking the fourth time in a row he's posted more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Aaron Nixon, who had six points and five rebounds.
Even though they lost, St. John Paul II smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 12 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 12 offensive boards in three consecutive games.
Gadsden County's victory bumped their record up to 5-10. As for St. John Paul II, their loss dropped their record down to 7-11.
Gadsden County beat St. John Paul II 45-36 when the teams last played two weeks ago. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Forbes, who dropped a double-double on 18 points and 23 boards. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Gadsden County still be able to contain Forbes? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
