The Pensacola Tigers will be playing at home against the West Florida Jaguars at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Pensacola has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last three games.
Pensacola pushed their score all the way to 57 on Friday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They were just a bucket shy of victory and fell 58-57 to Pine Forest. Pensacola has struggled against Pine Forest recently, as their contest on Friday was their fifth consecutive lost matchup.
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the most dominant came from Nick Jones, who scored 16 points along with eight rebounds and three blocks. As a matter of fact, that's the most points he has scored all season. Jatony Jefferson was another key contributor, scoring 18 points along with two steals.
West Florida suffered their closest defeat yet this season on Friday. They fell just short of Walton by a score of 48-46. While losing is never fun, West Florida can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 369th, while Walton is ranked 109th).
West Florida's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Brayden Justice, who scored ten points along with two steals, and Dominick Nicholson who scored 15 points along with nine rebounds. That's the first time this season that Nicholson pulled down eight or more rebounds. Another player making a difference was Amir Young, who scored seven points along with five rebounds.
Pensacola now has a losing record at 8-9. As for West Florida, they have been struggling recently, as they've lost four of their last five contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 9-8 record this season.
Pensacola came up short against West Florida when the teams last played back in December of 2023, falling 53-48. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of West Florida's John Anderson, who scored 12 points along with seven blocks. Now that Pensacola knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
