Basketball Recap: Winter Park Finds Playoff Glory Versus Lake Brantley

It's playoff time, and Winter Park had no trouble coming through when it counted. They took down the Lake Brantley Patriots 46-32 on Wednesday. Given the Wildcats' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 42nd, while the Patriots are ranked 167th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Jake Baker

Blocked Shots (Career)

02/12/25 vs Lake Brantley	2
02/05/25 vs Timber Creek	1
01/22/25 vs West Orange	1
01/17/25 vs Lake Nona	1
12/30/24 vs North Forsyth	1

Winter Park got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Jake Baker out in front who went 5-for-7 to rack up 14 points. The dominant performance also gave Baker a new career-high in blocks (two). Max Waters was another key player, putting up seven points along with five boards and four steals.

When it comes to explaining why Lake Brantley lost, don't look at Elijah Fermaint. Despite the final result, he posted nine points in addition to seven assists and three steals. Another player making a difference was Julian Vargas, who earned ten points.

Winter Park has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won nine of their last ten matches, which provided a nice bump to their 20-7 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 53.6 points over those games. As for Lake Brantley, they are on a three-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 15-12.

Coming up, Winter Park will square off against Apopka at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. Each of these teams will be battling to keep a three-game winning streak alive. Lake Brantley does not have any more games scheduled as of now.