Basketball Recap: Palmetto Piles Up the Points Against Lakewood Ranch

Tigers

Margin (Wins)

12/17/24 vs Lakewood Ranch	53
11/20/24 vs IMG Academy Silver	47
01/18/25 vs Durant	38
01/15/25 vs Bayshore	32
01/23/25 @ Parrish Community	32

Palmetto was handed a heart-breaking three-point defeat in their last game, but they sure didn't let that happen against Lakewood Ranch on Tuesday. The Palmetto Tigers claimed a resounding 83-53 win over the Lakewood Ranch Mustangs. The Tigers have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won ten matchups by 23 points or more this season.

Several Mustangs players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was James Butler, who went 6 of 15 en route to 18 points and three steals. What's more, Butler also racked up two blocks, the most he's had since back in November of 2024. Wes Henry was another key player, dropping a double-double on 11 points and 11 boards.

Palmetto is on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight contests, which provided a nice bump to their 17-6 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 68.4 points per game. As for Lakewood Ranch, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 4-19.

Palmetto will be playing in front of their home fans against Booker at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Booker knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 55 points or more in their past four games -- so hopefully Palmetto likes a good challenge. Lakewood Ranch has already played their next matchup (against Manatee), but no score has been uploaded at the time of writing.