Basketball Game Preview: Parrish Community Bulls vs. Lakewood Ranch Mustangs

The Parrish Community Bulls will square off against the Lakewood Ranch Mustangs at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Parrish Community has three straight wins, Lakewood Ranch has four straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the court.

Last Tuesday, Parrish Community didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Braden River, but they still walked away with a 52-46 victory.

Meanwhile, Lakewood Ranch lost to Manatee at home by a 90-72 margin on Tuesday. While losing is never fun, the Mustangs can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 593rd, while the Hurricanes are ranked 256th).

Parrish Community will need focus on slowing down Liam Scalzo, one of several Lakewood Ranch players who made an impact when they last played. He went 10 for 21 on his way to 30 points and five rebounds. The dominant performance gave Scalzo a new career-high in points. Another player making a difference was Wes Henry, who dropped a double-double on ten points and ten boards.

Even though they lost, Lakewood Ranch was working as a unit and finished the game with 15 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.

Parrish Community is on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last ten matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 11-6 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 59.2 points per game. As for Lakewood Ranch, their defeat dropped their record down to 3-13.

Parrish Community strolled past Lakewood Ranch in their previous matchup back in December of 2024 by a score of 57-43. Will Parrish Community repeat their success, or does Lakewood Ranch have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.