The First Academy Royals and the Windermere Prep Lakers squared off in some playoff action on Saturday, but sadly The First Academy Royals had to settle for second. They took a 62-51 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Lakers. The First Academy has not had much luck with Windermere Prep recently, as the team's come up short the last six times they've met.
Despite the loss, The First Academy still got an impressive performance from Lorenzo De jesus, who scored 22 points along with five rebounds and two steals. De jesus has been hot recently, having posted 16 or more points the last seven times he's played. Max Simmons was another key contributor, scoring 12 points.
Windermere Prep's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Samuel Shoptaw, who scored 17 points along with seven rebounds and six assists. Another player making a difference was Sinan Huan, who almost dropped a double-double on 13 points and nine rebounds.
The First Academy's defeat dropped their record down to 15-12. As for Windermere Prep, they are on a roll lately: they've won 12 of their last 15 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 20-7 record this season.
The First Academy will head out on the road to challenge Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Hopefully The First Academy focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up eight on Saturday. As for Windermere Prep, they will square off against Foundation Academy at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Foundation Academy will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Florida Rankings (they are ranked 233rd, while Windermere Prep is ranked 31st).
