Basketball Recap: Make It Four in a Row for South Florence

Bruins

Previous 4 Games

01/09/25 @ Lakewood	55-49
01/07/25 vs Darlington	47-36
01/04/25 vs Greenbrier	57-50
12/29/24 vs Marlboro County	64-41

South Florence waltzed into their matchup on Thursday with three straight wins... but they left with four. They managed a 55-49 victory over the Lakewood Gators. For the Bruins, this counts as revenge for the 55-43 win the Gators walked away with the last time they faced one another back in January of 2020.

South Florence's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Lennix Valerie, who posted seven points along with eight steals and six boards. Valerie has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last four times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Adrian Singletary, who had seven points and six rebounds.

Pop Cato and Darius Franklin certainly did their best on Thursday to avoid the loss. Cato went 7 of 9 on his way to 16 points and seven rebounds, while Franklin dropped a double-double on 15 points and 11 boards. Franklin is becoming a predictor of Lakewood's success: when he posts at least eight rebounds the team is 2-1 (and 6-7 when he doesn't). Cedric Cisse was another key player, putting up nine points.

South Florence is on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight contests, which provided a nice bump to their 9-5 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 56.0 points per game. As for Lakewood, their loss dropped their record down to 8-8.

South Florence wasted no time getting back out on the court and has already played their next game, a 64-47 defeat against Marion on the 11th. As for Lakewood, they will challenge Lower Richland at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Lakewood is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 50.4 points per game this season.