The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School men’s varsity basketball team went head-to-head against Spanish River Community High School on Monday, Feb. 3. The game took place at 6 p.m. at Coral Glades High School.

This game was the first postseason game of the year for both teams. MSD came into this game as the three seed in the 2025 FHSAA Boys Basketball 7A District 13 Tournament, with a 9-12 record. Spanish River entered as a six seed with an 8-14 record, looking to pull off an upset with both teams away from home.

MSD started out hot, taking a commanding 15-7 lead early on in the game. Defensively, MSD was ready: they held Spanish River to only ten first quarter points, applying pressure on both sides of the ball. Guard Brady Kuebler (1) scored the last points of the quarter, as MSD went into the break with a 19-10 lead.

“We really focused on building an early lead and continuing to build off of that throughout the game,” Keubler said. “Offense was the main priority during practices and we feel it paid off today.”

The second quarter brought an even better effort from MSD, as they continued to easily score on the Spanish River defense. Guard Nirel Earley (2) started to make baskets for the Eagles, as they continued to build on their lead, getting their points total up to 39 by the end of the first half, while Spanish River trailed behind, totaling 21 points at halftime.

“We knew how important this game was, and we played about as well as we could on both sides of the court,” guard Ayden Mclean (3) said.

The second half started with an MSD steal and score by Mclean, setting the tone for the rest of the game. More tough defense and hard pressure made it difficult for Spanish River to score.

Despite that, Spanish River ended up with their highest scoring quarter of the game, adding 13 points to their score. Still, MSD did not falter and entered the last quarter with a 19-point lead.

“Once we got that lead, the game got easy for us and we could run our offense more freely,” Keubler said. “Credit definitely goes to coach Cannon, he had us well prepared.”

The fourth quarter came and went; MSD essentially had the victory in their hands the entire game. The final score of the match was 67-39, with MSD moving on to the next round of the tournament.

The Eagles take on Park Vista Community High School on Wednesday, Feb. 5 at a neutral site.