Basketball Recap: Venice Takes a Loss

Venice lost against Cardinal Mooney back in November of 2023 and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Saturday. The Venice Indians took a 68-57 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Cardinal Mooney Cougars. While losing is never fun, the Indians can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 378th, while the Cougars are ranked 113th).

Despite the loss, Venice still got an impressive performance from Marcel Fil, who went 6 of 8 en route to 13 points along with six assists and five boards. That's the most assists Fil has posted since back in November of 2023. The team also got some help courtesy of Ben Carter, who posted six points and five rebounds.

Fil wasn't the only one working in the assists department: Venice was working as a unit and finished the game with 13 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Cardinal Mooney only racked up five assists.

Cardinal Mooney's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Malakai Cuffy, who had 20 points. Cuffy has been hot recently, having also posted two or more steals the last four times he's played. Another player making a difference was Jamaal George, who went 7 of 14 on his way to 16 points and three steals.

Venice's loss dropped their record down to 7-7. As for Cardinal Mooney, the victory (which was their 11th in a row) raised their record to 12-1.

Venice didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next match, a 66-60 defeat against Riverview Sarasota on the 7th. As for Cardinal Mooney, they will head out to challenge Bayshore at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Cardinal Mooney knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 55 points or more in their past five games -- so hopefully Bayshore likes a good challenge.