The Palm Beach Gardens Gators will face off against the Central Cobras at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
On Wednesday, Palm Beach Gardens strolled past Somerset Academy - Canyons with points to spare, taking the game 78-59. Given the Gators' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 142nd, while the Cougars are ranked 318th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Meanwhile, Central didn't have too much trouble with Vero Beach last Tuesday as they won 76-60. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Cobras.
Central's win came from a few key players Palm Beach Gardens will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Christian Maxon, who almost dropped a double-double on 23 points and nine assists. Those nine assists gave him a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Joseph Gayle, who went 11 for 19 on his way to 27 points and eight rebounds.
Palm Beach Gardens' win was their fourth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 7-2. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 76.0 points per game. As for Central, they now have a winning record of 2-1.
Palm Beach Gardens was dealt a bruising 86-47 defeat at the hands of Central in their previous meeting back in February of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Maxon, who went 7 of 11from beyond the arc on his way to 29 points and three steals. Now that Palm Beach Gardens knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
