The Sarasota Christian Blazers will be taking part in a tournament against the Foundation Christian Academy Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Sarasota Christian will bounce into Friday's match after beating Saint Stephen's Episcopal, who they had gone 2-7 against in their nine prior meetings. Sarasota Christian came out on top against Saint Stephen's Episcopal by a score of 42-29 on Friday. The squad ran away with 29 points in the first half and mostly just sat on those to pick up the victory.
Sarasota Christian's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Justin Brock, who posted 12 points and three steals. Another player making a difference was Travis Miller, who had 14 points.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Foundation Christian Academy). They blew past Lakeside Christian 71-37 on Tuesday. The victory was nothing new for the Panthers as they're now sitting on three straight.
Sarasota Christian better keep an eye on Caleb Hagan. He was instrumental in Foundation Christian Academy's win, putting up 24 points in addition to six boards and three steals. That makes it three consecutive games in which Hagan has scored at least a third of Foundation Christian Academy's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Tyndale Pittman, who dropped a double-double on 13 points and 14 rebounds.
Foundation Christian Academy's win was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 5-5. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 33 points. As for Sarasota Christian, they are on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four contests, which provided a nice bump to their 7-5 record this season.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Sarasota Christian has crashing the boards this season, having averaged 29.8 boards per game. However, it's not like Foundation Christian Academy struggles in that department as they've been averaging 31.2 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Sarasota Christian came up short against Foundation Christian Academy when the teams last played back in December of 2023, falling 52-46. Thankfully for Sarasota Christian, Micah Sanders (who dropped a double-double on 30 points and 20 rebounds) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
