Preview: Estero Wildcats vs. Cypress Lake Panthers
Estero is 8-2 against Cypress Lake since December of 2015, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Saturday. The Estero Wildcats' road trip will continue as they head out to face the Cypress Lake Panthers at 12:00 p.m. on December 16th. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both teams will really light up the scoreboard.
It's never fun to lose, and it's even less fun to lose 100-65, which was the final score in Estero's tilt against Mariner on Thursday. Despite running the score up even higher than they did on Tuesday (62), Estero still had to take the loss.
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Brady Knutson, who scored 23 points along with seven rebounds. He scored a full 35.4% of Estero's points, the fifth time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was Lee Eckman, who scored 15 points along with six assists.
Meanwhile, Cypress Lake strolled past Cape Coral with points to spare on Thursday, taking the game 73-57.
Jacques Duversone and Giordan Easely were among the main playmakers for Cypress Lake as the former scored 20 points along with six rebounds and the latter scored 32 points along with nine rebounds and five assists. That's the first time this season that Duversone scored 15 or more points.
Estero's loss was their third straight on the road, which bumped their record down to 3-7. Those losses can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 65.3 points per game. As for Cypress Lake, their victory bumped their record up to 6-2.
Keep an eye on the arc in Saturday's match: Estero have been dynamite from deep this season, having nailed 41.5% of their threes per game. It's a different story for Cypress Lake, though, as they've only drained 11.3% of their threes per game this season. Given Estero's sizeable advantage in that area, Cypress Lake will need to find a way to close that gap.
Estero strolled past Cypress Lake in their previous meeting back in February by a score of 66-48. The rematch might be a little tougher for Estero since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
