The Sumner Stingrays and the Clearwater Tornadoes will round out the year against one another at at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday. One thing working in Sumner's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points every time they've taken the court this season.
Sumner will head into Friday's contest hoping to keep the good times rolling: they proved they can win big last Friday (they won by 34) and on Friday they proved they can win the close ones too. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 62-60 victory over Winthrop College Prep Academy.
Meanwhile, Clearwater put another one in the bag on Friday to keep their perfect season alive. They enjoyed a cozy 67-51 win over Largo. Given the Tornadoes' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 87th, while the Packers are ranked 544th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Sumner better keep an eye on Keshawn Andrews. He was instrumental in Clearwater's win, dropping a double-double on 21 points and 14 rebounds. The dominant performance gave Andrews a new career-high in boards. The team also got some help courtesy of Kris Foote, who went 6 of 9 on his way to 15 points and six rebounds.
Sumner's victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 7-2. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 71.0 points per game. As for Clearwater, their record is now 7-0.
Sumner ended up a good deal behind Clearwater when the teams last played back in January of 2022, losing 73-58. Can Sumner avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
