The Palm Beach Lakes Rams will wrap up 2023 with a road trip to face off against the Mainland Buccaneers at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Both teams come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Even though Suncoast scored an imposing 60 points last Friday, Palm Beach Lakes still came out on top. It was close, but Palm Beach Lakes ultimately received the gift of a 62-60 win from a begrudging Ramssquad. The victory was just what they needed coming off of a 77-54 defeat in their prior matchup.
Meanwhile, Mainland had already won four in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 8.3 points), and they went ahead and made it five on Friday. They walked away with an 86-77 win over Tampa Catholic. Mainland's offense stepped up their game for this one, as that was the most points they've scored all season.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Mainland to victory, but perhaps none more so than Kade Manley, who went 7 for 9 from beyond the arc en route to 23 points and 1 assists. Those 23 points set a new season-high mark for him. The team also got some help courtesy of Narayan Thomas, who dropped a double-double on 19 points and 18 rebounds.
Palm Beach Lakes pushed their record up to 4-2 with that win, which was their fifth straight at home dating back to last season. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 69.0 points per game. As for Mainland, their win bumped their record up to 8-1.
