The Braden River Pirates will venture away from home to face off against the St. Petersburg Green Devils at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, these teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Braden River is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Saturday. They walked away with a 64-54 victory over Cape Coral. The final result isn’t all that surprising considering the Pirates’ considerable advantage in MaxPreps’ Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 99th, while the Seahawks are ranked 224th).
Anthony Bailey
02/14/26 vs Cape Coral802/07/26 @ Jesuit602/05/26 vs East Bay202/03/26 vs Hillsborough501/30/26 @ Northeast2+ 9 more games
Anthony Bailey was his usual excellent self, shooting 63% from the field en route to 22 points along with eight boards and three steals. That’s the most rebounds he has posted since back in December of 2025. Another player making a difference was Jaron Blanding, who scored 12 points and five boards.
Braden River smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 12 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they’ve now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in 17 consecutive matchups.
Meanwhile, St. Petersburg had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 9.5 points) and they went ahead and made it three on Saturday. They simply couldn’t be stopped as they easily beat the Tigers 76-47. The Green Devils have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won ten games by 20 points or more this season.
St. Petersburg found their leader in sophomore Nijaun Harris, who went 6-for-9 on his way to 15 points in addition to seven rebounds and five steals. Harris has been hot for a while, having posted 15 or more points the last 30 times he’s played. Zak Mellouki was another key player, dropping a double-double with 17 points and ten boards.
Braden River’s record now sits at 23-6. As for St. Petersburg, their record is now 19-9.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Braden River has been crashing the boards this season, having averaged 32.2 rebounds per game. However, it’s not like St. Petersburg struggles in that department as they’ve been averaging 23.5 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we’ll see if one team can grab an edge.
Braden River took a serious blow against St. Petersburg when the teams last played back in January of 2020, falling 82-47. Can the Pirates avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We’ll find out soon enough.