Basketball Game Preview: Varela Vipers vs. Braddock Bulldogs

Varela is 2-8 against Braddock since December of 2019 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Varela Vipers just played yesterday, but they'll still head out to face the Braddock Bulldogs at 7:30 p.m. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.

On Thursday, Varela came up short against Coral Park and fell 59-50.

Meanwhile, Braddock had to suffer through a 91-62 loss at the hands of Olympic Heights. While losing is never fun, the Bulldogs can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 450th, while the Lions are ranked 175th).

Despite the loss, Braddock saw an underclassman step up: sophomore Liano Lacayo went 6 of 8 en route to 16 points. Those 16 points gave Lacayo a new career-high. Ray Estay was another key player, going 5 for 10 on his way to 14 points and seven assists.

This is the second loss in a row for Braddock and nudges their season record down to 8-13. As for Varela, their defeat dropped their record down to 9-6.

Varela couldn't quite finish off Braddock when the teams last played back in December of 2024 and fell 60-58. Can Varela avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.