The Academy at the Lakes Wildcats will head out to challenge the Hernando Leopards at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. Academy at the Lakes has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the matchup with three straight defeats, while Hernando will come in with three straight wins.
Academy at the Lakes is headed into the game out to prove that what happened against Shorecrest Prep on Saturday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Academy at the Lakes had to suffer through a 63-36 loss at the hands of Shorecrest Prep. While losing is never fun, the Wildcats can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 716th, while the Chargers are ranked 213th).
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Hernando). They took their contest on Saturday with ease, bagging a 77-33 victory over Spring Hill Christian Academy. The Leopards have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won four matchups by 25 points or more this season.
Hernando's win came from a few key players Academy at the Lakes will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Daniel Merizalde, who almost dropped a double-double on 16 points and nine assists. He has been hot recently, having also posted two or more steals the last four times he's played. Blake Williams was another key player, going 6 for 10 on his way to 14 points.
Hernando was working as a unit and finished the game with 29 assists. That's the most assists they've posted since the start of last season.
Hernando is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven games, which provided a nice bump to their 10-3 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 62.3 points per game. As for Academy at the Lakes, their loss dropped their record down to 3-7.
Academy at the Lakes suffered a grim 65-40 defeat to Hernando in their previous meeting last Friday. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Merizalde, who went 8 of 12 on his way to 20 points and seven rebounds. Now that Academy at the Lakes knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
