The Pine Crest Panthers's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Friday after their fourth straight loss. They received a tough blow as they fell 66-51 to American Heritage. While losing is never fun, Pine Crest can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 483rd, while American Heritage is ranked 96th).
Pine Crest's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Rowan Hoffman, who scored 14 points, and Joseph Teich who scored 13 points. Hoffman scored a full 27.5% of Pine Crest's points, the fourth time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Dylan Wigoda, who scored seven points.
Leading American Heritage to victory were Brendan Gerard and Zack Burrow . Gerard scored 16 points along with six assists, while Burrow dropped a double-double on 14 points and 13 rebounds. The matchup was Gerard's 12th in a row with at least ten points. Benji Grayer was another key contributor, scoring 12 points along with five rebounds.
Pine Crest bumped their record down to 3-7 with that defeat, which was their sixth straight on the road dating back to last season. As for American Heritage, their victory bumped their record up to 10-2.
Pine Crest will look to defend their home court on Monday against Don Soffer Aventura at 6:00 p.m. Hopefully Don Soffer Aventura focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 22 back in December of 2023. As for American Heritage, they will head out on the road to face off against North Broward Prep at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. North Broward Prep has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 618 points over their last nine matches.
