Basketball Game Preview: Friends Academy Quakers vs. Lawrence Golden Tornadoes

Friends Academy has gone 5-0 against Lawrence recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Saturday. The Friends Academy Quakers will venture away from home to face off against the Lawrence Golden Tornadoes. Friends Academy knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with 55 points or more in their past four matches -- so hopefully Lawrence likes a good challenge.

Last Sunday, Friends Academy didn't have quite enough to beat Garden City and fell 76-74. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on Friday (65), the Quakers still had to take the loss.

Friends Academy might have lost, but man, Eyan Valadez was a machine: he almost dropped a triple-double on 22 points, nine rebounds, and 11 assists. The dominant performance gave Valadez a new career-high in assists. The team also got some help courtesy of Chase O'Brien, who almost dropped a double-double on ten points and nine boards.

Even though they lost, Friends Academy smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 15 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least nine offensive rebounds in 14 consecutive games dating back to last season.

Meanwhile, Lawrence was not able to break out of their rough patch on Friday as the team picked up their 28th straight loss dating back to last season. They were dealt an 89-62 defeat at the hands of North Shore. One positive for the Golden Tornadoes, at least, is that this was the most points they've scored all season.

Lawrence's loss dropped their record down to 0-9. As for Friends Academy, their defeat dropped their record down to 8-5.

Everything came up roses for Friends Academy against Lawrence when the teams last played back in December of 2024, as the squad secured a 59-27 victory. In that contest, Friends Academy amassed a halftime lead of 41-5, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Saturday.