Basketball Game Preview: Palmetto Ridge Bears vs. Gateway Eagles

The Palmetto Ridge Bears will face off against the Gateway Eagles at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.

Palmetto Ridge is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Wednesday. They came out on top against Immokalee by a score of 68-57. Winning may never get old, but the Bears sure are getting used to it with their third in a row.

Palmetto Ridge got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Gavin Neugent out in front who went 7 for 9 en route to 18 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Evan Adams, who went 8 of 15 on his way to 17 points.

Meanwhile, Gateway got the win against East Lee County on Wednesday by a conclusive 87-67. Given the Eagles' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 236th, while the Jaguars are ranked 611th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Palmetto Ridge has also been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight contests, which provided a nice bump to their 18-8 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 66.3 points per game. As for Gateway, their win bumped their record up to 16-8.