Bruton is 2-8 against Lafayette since January of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Bruton Panthers will be playing in front of their home fans against the Lafayette Rams at 7:00 p.m. Both teams come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Last Wednesday, even if it wasn't a dominant performance, Bruton beat Poquoson 54-48. Given Bruton's advantage in MaxPreps' Virginia basketball rankings (they are ranked 97th, while Poquoson is ranked 371st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Brandon Freeman continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, scoring 20 points along with five assists and three steals. He is on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed two or more in the last 12 games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Khamani Phillips, who scored nine points along with seven rebounds and three steals.
Meanwhile, Lafayette waltzed into their contest on Wednesday with seven straight wins but they left with eight. They breezed by Tabb at home to the tune of 73-40. For those curious, yes, that was the biggest win Lafayette has managed all season.
Bruton pushed their record up to 15-5 with that win, which was their third straight on the road. As for Lafayette, they are on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last ten matches, which provided a nice bump to their 17-3 record this season.
Bruton couldn't quite finish off Lafayette when the teams last played back in January and fell 60-57. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Lafayette's Jarquez Garrett, who dropped a double-double on 25 points and 11 steals. Now that Bruton knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
