Basketball Game Preview: Lakewood Ranch Mustangs vs. Gateway Eagles

The Lakewood Ranch Mustangs will face off against the Gateway Eagles at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday.

Lakewood Ranch heads in on the heels of a playoff matchup on Thursday. They fell just short of Manatee by a score of 39-36.

Meanwhile, Gateway came tearing into Friday's contest with 11 straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 29.7 points) and they left with even more momentum. They took down the Bears 50-36. Given the Eagles' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 97th, while the Bears are ranked 214th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Gateway's win bumped their record up to 22-5. As for Lakewood Ranch, their defeat dropped their record down to 17-5.