The Banning Lewis Academy Stallions will challenge the Lamar Thunder at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Lamar will be up against a hot Banning Lewis Academy team: the squad just extended their winning streak to six. Banning Lewis Academy blew past Salida 85-57 on Tuesday. The match was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 44-24.
Jordan Jones
| 02/04/25 vs Salida | 4 |
| 02/01/25 @ Florence | 2 |
| 01/28/25 @ Peyton | 5 |
| 01/24/25 vs Rye | 4 |
| 01/22/25 @ St. Mary's | 2 |
| + 3 more games |
Banning Lewis Academy can attribute much of their success to Matthew Lebron, who went 8 of 12 from beyond the arc to rack up 32 points and three steals, and Jordan Jones, who dropped a double-double on 18 points and 11 boards. Jones has been hot, having also posted two or more steals the last eight times he's played. Another player making a difference was Trey Oden, who went 7 for 15 en route to 17 points in addition to seven assists and three steals.
Banning Lewis Academy smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 18 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 13 offensive rebounds in four consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, Lamar had already won nine in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 23.4 points) and they went ahead and made it ten on Friday. They breezed by the Panthers to the tune of 54-21. Given the Thunder's advantage in MaxPreps' Colorado basketball rankings (they are ranked 42nd, while the Panthers are ranked 217th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Banning Lewis Academy better focus on containing Jacob Dunning and Diego Estrada as the pair were huge in Lamar's win. Dunning posted 15 points and six rebounds, while Estrada scored 11 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Cason Pollart, who earned five points.
Lamar's victory was their tenth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 14-2. A key ingredient in that success has been their performance when it comes to assists: they averaged an imposing 9.6 assists in those games compared to only 9.6 in the others. As for Banning Lewis Academy, their win bumped their record up to 10-3.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Banning Lewis Academy has been crashing the boards this season, having averaged 32.7 boards per game. However, it's not like Lamar struggles in that department as they've been averaging 34.8 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Banning Lewis Academy suffered a grim 43-23 defeat to Lamar in their previous matchup back in January of 2024. Will Banning Lewis Academy have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other basketball content.
