Basketball Game Preview: Zachary Broncos vs. Lancaster Tigers

The Zachary Broncos and the Lancaster Tigers will face off at 7:30 p.m. on Friday without much rest having both just played. Zachary will be coming into the match with an undefeated record on the line.

Zachary is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They pulled ahead with an 82-81 photo finish over Kimball on Thursday. Given the Broncos' advantage in MaxPreps' basketball rankings in their respective home states (they are ranked third in Louisiana, while the Knights are ranked 61st in Texas), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

It was another big night for Xavier Ferguson, who went 11 of 22 en route to 30 points along with six boards and five steals. The game was his eighth in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Ian Edmond, who posted 21 points.

Zachary smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 11 offensive boards. That's the most offensive rebounds they've managed all season.

Meanwhile, you can't lose the game if you win every quarter, and that was precisely Lancaster's strategy against Beaumont United on Thursday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Lancaster blew Beaumont United out of the water with an 83-40 final score. With the Tigers ahead 47-17 at the half, the contest was all but over already.

Lancaster has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four matches, which provided a nice bump to their 13-5 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 74.8 points per game. As for Zachary, their victory bumped their record up to 14-0.

Things could have been worse for Zachary, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 59-44 loss to Lancaster in their previous matchup back in December of 2022. Can Zachary avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.