Basketball Game Preview: King's Academy Lions vs. South Plantation Paladins

The King's Academy Lions will take on the South Plantation Paladins at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. King's Academy is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 53.7 points per game this season.

King's Academy is headed into Friday's game looking for a big change in momentum after dropping their third straight game on Tuesday. They might be feeling deja-vu: they lost 53-48 to Park Vista, which was the same score (and result) they got the week prior. While losing is never fun, the Lions can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 223rd, while the Cobras are ranked 103rd).

King's Academy might have lost, but man, Javian Jones was a machine: he went 8 of 20 en route to 21 points along with eight rebounds and five assists. That was a full 43.8% of King's Academy's points, marking the third time in a row he's posted more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Isaiah McCoy, who put up six points in addition to ten boards and three blocks.

They weren't the only one working in the assists department: King's Academy was working as a unit and finished the game with 11 assists. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their assist total in three consecutive matchups.

Meanwhile, there's no place like home for South Plantation, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Tuesday. Everything went their way against Deerfield Beach on Thursday as South Plantation made off with a 61-38 victory. The contest was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 32-12.

South Plantation has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four games, which provided a nice bump to their 12-5 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 58.5 points per game. As for King's Academy, their loss ended a six-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 8-4.

King's Academy couldn't quite finish off South Plantation in their previous meeting back in January of 2024 and fell 69-66. Will King's Academy have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other basketball content.