Basketball Game Preview: Gibbs Gladiators vs. Westminster Academy Lions

The Gibbs Gladiators and the Westminster Academy Lions will face off at 3:20 p.m. on Saturday without much rest having both just played. Gibbs knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 55 points or more in their past ten games -- so hopefully Westminster Academy likes a good challenge.

On Friday, Gibbs beat St. Petersburg 76-67. Given the Gladiators' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked ninth, while the Green Devils are ranked 148th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Gibbs had a senior duo take command as Jacob Daniels went 8 of 15 en route to 25 points and six assists and Bobby Crawford went 6 for 10 on his way to 16 points and five rebounds. Daniels is trending in the right direction considering he's improved his point production for three straight games. Oneal Delancy was another key player, putting up eight points along with six assists and three steals.

Gibbs smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 13 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in three consecutive matchups.

Meanwhile, Westminster Academy humbled Northeast with a 78-51 victory. The Lions pushed the score to 63-33 by the end of the third, a deficit the Hurricanes cut but never quite recovered from.

Westminster Academy has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven contests, which provided a nice bump to their 10-6 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 77.3 points per game. As for Gibbs, their win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 15-4.