Basketball Game Preview: Palm Grove Christian Gators vs. Community Christian Crusaders

Palm Grove Christian and Community Christian are an even 5-5 against one another since December of 2019, but not for long. The Palm Grove Christian Gators just played yesterday, but they'll still head out to face the Community Christian Crusaders at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The squads are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Palm Grove Christian has struggled recently with three losses in a row, while Community Christian will arrive with three straight victories.

Palm Grove Christian is headed into the game out to prove that what happened against Grace Christian on Monday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Palm Grove Christian came up short against Grace Christian, falling 61-40. While losing is never fun, the Gators can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 669th, while the Patriots are ranked 286th).

Palm Grove Christian might have lost, but man, Carter Baker was a machine: he dropped a double-double on 13 points and 15 rebounds. Those 15 boards gave Baker a new career-high. Jeremiah Pitts was another key player, going 5 of 10 en route to 11 points.

Meanwhile, Community Christian was able to grind out a solid win over Land O' Lakes Christian on Friday, taking the game 59-47.

Community Christian is also on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last ten matches, which provided a nice bump to their 15-5 record this season. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 26.4 points. As for Palm Grove Christian, their defeat dropped their record down to 10-12.

Palm Grove Christian suffered a grim 61-39 defeat to Community Christian when the teams last played back in January. That contest was all but decided by halftime, at which point Palm Grove Christian was down 39-17.