The Lakewood Spartans will take on the St. Petersburg Green Devils in a holiday battle at at 7:45 p.m. on Friday. Both are strolling into their matchups after big wins in their previous games.
Lakewood is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They put the hurt on Northeast with a sharp 77-57 win on Tuesday. While the Spartans didn't have the best season last year (they finished 10-16), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past.
Meanwhile, St. Petersburg waltzed into their game on Tuesday with two straight wins... but they left with three. They really took it to the Packers for the full four quarters, racking up an 82-46 victory. The Green Devils have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won four contests by 33 points or more this season.
St. Petersburg found their leader in freshman Nijaun Harris, who went 13 for 22 on his way to 36 points in addition to seven boards and three steals. That makes it nine consecutive games in which Harris has scored at least a third of St. Petersburg's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Emir Gainer, who went 6 of 10 on his way to 14 points along with eight assists and eight boards.
St. Petersburg smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 13 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 11 offensive boards in three consecutive matches.
Lakewood pushed their record up to 5-2 with the win, which was their fourth straight at home dating back to last season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 59.5 points per game. As for St. Petersburg, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five games, which provided a nice bump to their 6-4 record this season.
Lakewood was able to grind out a solid victory over St. Petersburg in their previous matchup back in January, winning 57-48. Will Lakewood repeat their success, or does St. Petersburg have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
