Having just played yesterday, the South Plantation Paladins will head out on the road to face off against the King's Academy Lions at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. South Plantation will be strutting in after a win while King's Academy will be coming in after a defeat.
South Plantation took a loss when they played away from home on Tuesday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Thursday. Everything went their way against Deerfield Beach as South Plantation made off with a 61-38 victory. With the Paladins ahead 32-12 at the half, the matchup was all but over already.
Meanwhile, King's Academy was not able to break out of their rough patch on Tuesday as the team picked up their third straight loss. They might be feeling deja-vu: they lost 53-48 to Park Vista, which was the same score (and result) they got the week prior. While losing is never fun, the Lions can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 223rd, while the Cobras are ranked 103rd).
South Plantation will have to contain Javian Jones as he made an impact in King's Academy's last game. He went 8 for 20 on his way to 21 points in addition to eight boards and five assists. That was a full 43.8% of King's Academy's points, marking the third time in a row he's posted more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Isaiah McCoy, who put up six points along with ten rebounds and three blocks.
Even though they lost, King's Academy was working as a unit and finished the game with 11 assists. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their assist total in three consecutive games.
South Plantation has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four contests, which provided a nice bump to their 12-5 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 58.5 points per game. As for King's Academy, their defeat ended a six-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 8-4.
South Plantation skirted past King's Academy 69-66 when the teams last played back in January of 2024. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Jones, who dropped a double-double on 24 points and ten boards. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will South Plantation still be able to contain Jones? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
