Two dominant guards in Daniel Coldiron and Nick Sadler are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Naples Classical Academy will head out on the road to take on the Marco Island Academy Rays at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Naples Classical knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with flashy point totals in its past seven matches -- so hopefully Marco Island Academy likes a good challenge.
Naples Classical pushed their score all the way to 86 on Tuesday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They took a 97-86 hit to the loss column at the hands of Island Coast. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their last game on Saturday (67), Naples Classical still had to take the loss.
Despite the defeat, Naples Classical saw an underclassman step up: Coldiron scored 29 points. That was a full 33.7% of Naples Classical's points, marking the fifth time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Colman Gillen, who scored 19 points.
Meanwhile, Marco Island Academy pushed their score all the way to 56 on Tuesday, but even that wasn't enough to win. The match between Marco Island Academy and The Village School of Naples wasn't particularly close, with Marco Island Academy falling 73-56. Marco Island Academy has not had much luck with The Village School of Naples recently, as the team's come up short the last two times they've met.
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Veleon Nazarko, who dropped a double-double on 15 points and 11 rebounds. That's the first time this season that he scored 15 or more points. Sadler was another key contributor, dropping a double-double on 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Naples Classical bumped their record down to 5-10 with that defeat, which was their fourth straight at home. That rough patch can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 64.3 points per game. As for Marco Island Academy, their defeat dropped their record down to 4-10.
This contest is shaping up to be a blowout: Naples Classical hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having only averaged 57.9 points per game. It's a different story for Marco Island Academy, though, as they've been averaging only 55.1 points per game. The only thing between Naples Classical and another offensive beatdown is Marco Island Academy. Will they be able to keep them contained?
Naples Classical came up short against Marco Island Academy in their previous matchup back in November of 2023, falling 68-55. Can Naples Classical avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
