Preview: Parrish Community Bulls vs. Lakewood Ranch Mustangs
The Parrish Community Bulls will be playing in front of their home fans against the Lakewood Ranch Mustangs at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Parrish Community has five straight wins, Lakewood Ranch has five straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Last Monday, Parrish Community's game was all tied up 12-12 at the half, but luckily for them it didn't stay that way. They came out on top against Lemon Bay by a score of 55-43.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Parrish Community to victory, but perhaps none more so than Malakai Cuffy, who scored 12 points along with eight assists and five rebounds. Cuffy is on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed two or more in the last four games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Dylan Higgins, who scored 13 points along with two steals.
Meanwhile, Lakewood Ranch pushed their score all the way to 66 on Tuesday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They took a hard 82-66 fall against Wiregrass Ranch. While losing is never fun, Lakewood Ranch can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 400th, while Wiregrass Ranch is ranked 43rd).
Parrish Community's victory was their fifth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 13-5. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 59.8 points per game. As for Lakewood Ranch, they have been struggling recently, as they've lost nine of their last ten contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 5-10 record this season.
Parrish Community might still be hurting after the 61-39 defeat they got from Lakewood Ranch in their previous matchup back in December of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Lakewood Ranch's Isaiah Allen, who dropped a double-double on 20 points and 11 rebounds. Now that Parrish Community knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
