Basketball Game Preview: Palisades Pumas vs. Berry Cardinals

The Palisades Pumas will take on the Berry Cardinals at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Palisades is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 56.7 points per game this season.

Palisades will bounce into Friday's contest after beating Ardrey Kell, who they had gone 0-4 against in their four prior meetings. Palisades managed a 49-43 victory over Ardrey Kell on Friday. The win was all the more spectacular given the Pumas' disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 164th, while the Knights are ranked 50th).

Jayen Reeves

Rebounds (Career)

01/17/25 @ Ardrey Kell	7
12/05/23 vs Rocky River	5
12/29/23 vs Lab University Prep National	5
12/10/24 @ Independence	5
12/01/23 vs South Point	5

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Palisades to victory, but perhaps none more so than Jayen Reeves, who posted 15 points and seven boards. The dominant performance gave Reeves a new career-high in rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Brighton Lester, who had ten points and three steals.

Meanwhile, Berry hadn't done well against Olympic recently (they were 2-7 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Friday. Berry enjoyed a cozy 63-47 victory over Olympic.

Palisades pushed their record up to 10-8 with the win, which was their third straight on the road. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 64.3 points per game. As for Berry, their victory bumped their record up to 6-12.

Palisades was able to grind out a solid win over Berry in their previous matchup back in December of 2024, winning 54-45. Does Palisades have another victory up their sleeve, or will Berry turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.