Basketball Recap: Tavaris Slaton's Big Game Can't Quite Lead Homestead over Palmetto

Homestead lost against Palmetto back in December of 2023 and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Tuesday. The Homestead Broncos fell to the Palmetto Panthers 73-69. While losing is never fun, the Broncos can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 282nd, while the Panthers are ranked 117th).

Homestead lost despite a true team effort on offense, the best among them being Tavaris Slaton, who dropped a double-double on 22 points and ten boards. The dominant performance gave Slaton a new career-high in points. Another player making a difference was Rodney Holmes, who dropped a double-double on 18 points and 12 rebounds.

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Previous 1 Games

01/28/25 - Away

69-73 L

Even though they lost, Homestead smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 15 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 13 offensive rebounds in 44 consecutive matches dating back to last season.

Santiago Henriquez continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines for Palmetto, putting up 36 points along with five boards and four steals. Henriquez's evening made it 24 games in a row in which he has scored at least ten points. Rafael Diaz was another key player, posting ten points and seven rebounds.

With the defeat, Homestead broke their three-game winning streak and moved their record to 12-8. As for Palmetto, they moved to 13-9 with that win, which also ended their four-game losing streak.

Homestead will head out to face off against Somerset Academy (Silver Palms) at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. One thing working in Homestead's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points in their last eight contests. Palmetto has already played their next game, a 66-62 loss against Miami Country Day on the 29th.