The Lakewood Ranch Mustangs suffered their biggest defeat yet this season on Thursday. They were dealt a 77-49 loss at the hands of Palmetto. 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 Palmetto is ranked 131st).
Thomas Huggins and David Young certainly did their best on Thursday to try and avoid the loss. Huggins scored 13 points along with seven rebounds, while Young scored 12 points along with seven rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Huggins has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Isaiah Allen, who scored five points along with three steals.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Palmetto to victory, but perhaps none more so than Joshua Lipson, who scored 19 points along with six assists and five steals. Another player making a difference was Santiago Henriquez, who dropped a double-double on 23 points and ten rebounds.
Lakewood Ranch has traveled a rocky road recently, as they've lost six of their last seven matchups, which put a noticeable dent in their 5-7 record this season. As for Palmetto, the win got them back to even at 7-7.
Lakewood Ranch won't have much time to rest: their next matchup is against Estero at 10:40 a.m. on January 5th. Hopefully Estero focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up seven on Thursday. Palmetto won't have much time to rest: their next game is against Cypress Lake at 2:00 p.m. on January 5th. Cypress Lake is strutting with some offensive muscle, as they've averaged 60.7 points per game.
