Vero Beach is 8-1 against Port St. Lucie since December of 2015 and they’ll have a chance to extend that dominance on Friday. The Indians will head out to take on the Jaguars at 7:00 p.m. Vero Beach will be looking to extend their current 12-game winning streak.

On Tuesday, Vero Beach beat Melbourne Central Catholic 64-53. Given the Indians’ advantage in MaxPreps’ Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 94th, while the Hustlers are ranked 495th) , the result wasn’t entirely unexpected.

Brandon James

01/20/26 vs Melbourne Central Catholic2001/16/26 vs St. Edward’s1901/14/26 vs Central1901/08/26 @ South Fork2001/06/26 @ Treasure Coast21+ 2 more games

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Vero Beach to victory, but perhaps none more so than Brandon James, who shot 50% from the field to rack up 20 points and three steals. The matchup was James’ seventh in a row with at least 15 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Andre Ferguson, who dropped a double-double with 11 points and ten rebounds.

Vero Beach was working as a unit and finished the game with 18 assists. That’s the most assists they’ve posted since back in November of 2025.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Port St. Lucie). They enjoyed a cozy 78-62 win over Legacy on Wednesday.

Vero Beach better focus on containing Bryan Desgrottes and Isaac Sylvain as the pair were huge in Port St. Lucie’s win. Desgrottes went 9-for-18 en route to 27 points along with seven boards and five assists, while Sylvain dropped a double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Sylvain is becoming a predictor of Port St. Lucie’s success: when he posts at least 15 points the team is undefeated (and 6-11 when he doesn’t). Illisha Johnson was another key player, putting up seven points in addition to seven boards and three steals.

Vero Beach’s record now sits at 17-3. As for Port St. Lucie, their record is now 10-11.

Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Vero Beach has been crashing the boards this season, having averaged 23.8 rebounds per game. However, it’s not like Port St. Lucie struggles in that department as they’ve been averaging 29.1 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we’ll see if one team can grab an edge.

Everything came up roses for Vero Beach against Port St. Lucie when the teams last played back in November of 2024, as the team secured a 67-37 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Indians since the squad won’t have the home-court advantage this time around. We’ll see if the change in venue makes a difference.

Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps