Two dominant forwards in Maddox Fowles and Cameron Boozer are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Western Wildcats will be staying on the road on Tuesday to face off against the Columbus Explorers at 7:00 p.m. on February 20th. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Western had already proven themselves in the regular season, and didn't miss a beat now that it's playoff time. They took their game on the road on Thursday with ease, bagging a 81-44 victory over Hialeah Gardens. Western pushed the score to 64-34 by the end of the third, a deficit Hialeah Gardens had little chance of recovering from.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Western to victory, but perhaps none more so than Ethan Panton-Hazell, who scored ten points along with six rebounds and two blocks. Stefan Frisby was another key contributor, scoring nine points.
Meanwhile, Columbus entered their tilt with Boca Raton with 16 consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with 17. Columbus really took it to Boca Raton for the full four quarters, racking up a 92-28 victory on the road. Given Columbus' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked third, while Boca Raton is ranked 265th), the result on Thursday wasn't entirely unexpected.
It was another big night for Boozer, who dropped a double-double on 24 points and 11 rebounds. He hasn't dropped below 15 points for six straight games. Another player making a difference was Jase Richardson, who scored 17 points along with four steals.
Western is on a roll lately: they've won 11 of their last 13 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 20-7 record this season. As for Columbus, their win bumped their record up to 23-4.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as the pair are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Western hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 70.6 points per game. However, it's not like Columbus struggles in that department as they've been averaging 78.6 points per game. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Western took a serious blow against Columbus when the teams last played back in February of 2023, falling 66-27. Thankfully for Western, Garyn Bess (who scored 14 points along with three steals) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
