Winter Park Wildcats fall, Edgewater Eagles soar

The Wildcats lost their fourth of five games in January with a 51-48 loss on Jan. 13. Coupled with a loss the night before to district rival Colonial, the Wildcats officially dropped to the bottom of the district standings.

Though the Wildcats (4-14, 0-4) have struggled throughout the season, two hard back-to-back losses against their district foes may have dealt the most crippling blow to the team’s postseason chances.

Hosting Colonial on Jan. 12, they had no trouble spreading the points around, with three players scoring in double digits. They jumped out to an early lead on strong shooting, going up 16-7 in the first quarter.

Michael Merlano led the way with a sparkling 18-point performance when he hit 100 percent of his field goals on the night. He also led in rebounds, grabbing 10 boards in the game. A wild performance by Malcolm Laws added up to 14 points and six rebounds.

But those key players weren’t enough to lift the team over the Grenadiers, who came back with a vengeance in the second and third quarter, then held out in the fourth for the 63-52 win.

Jan. 13 it was the Wildcats attempting a comeback, after falling 17-12 in the first quarter. They outgunned the Wolves in the second, but then struggled to keep pace in a back-and forth fight that would go down to the final minute of play, ending in a heartbreaking 51-48 tally.

This week they face a final district foe, in the second of back-to-back games to end the week. Their first will be Thursday, Jan. 19, hosting Ocoee. That game tips off at 7:30 p.m., with the Knights possibly giving the Wildcats their best chance at a recovery this season. They’re 6-12 on the season, coming off a two-game losing streak.

After that the Wildcats face University (12-4, 2-1), who have already defeated the Wildcats once this season. That game tips off in Winter Park at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Edgewater

The Eagles have continued on their tear in district play, at 13-5 overall and 6-0 in the district. Their most recent conquest was a 59-18 obliteration of district rival Deltona, the third time the Eagles have at least doubled the Wolves’ score this season. The closest any district team has come to beating the Eagles was a 56-41 blowout of Seabreeze at the start of December.

Tuesday night at press time the Eagles took on Pine Ridge for the last time in the regular season. On Thursday they’ll be in Apopka to take on the Blue Darters at 7:30 p.m. Apopka (6-12, 1-5) has only had two wins in the last six weeks.