The First Baptist Academy Lions will head out on the road to face off against the Cypress Lake Panthers at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (First Baptist Academy has five straight victories, Cypress Lake has four straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Even though Gateway Charter scored an imposing 56 points on Tuesday, First Baptist Academy still came out on top. First Baptist Academy enjoyed a cozy 72-56 victory over Gateway Charter.
Meanwhile, Cypress Lake pushed their score all the way to 73 on Monday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They fell 83-73 to Naples. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their last game on Friday (63), Cypress Lake still had to take the loss.
The losing side was boosted by Giordan Easely, who scored 29 points along with five assists and three steals. That was a full 39.7% of Cypress Lake's points, marking the fourth time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Eli Reed was another key contributor, scoring 13 points along with four steals.
First Baptist Academy pushed their record up to 15-3 with that victory, which was their sixth straight at home. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 61.8 points per game. As for Cypress Lake, they have traveled a rocky road recently, as they've lost eight of their last nine contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 8-10 record this season.
First Baptist Academy took their win against Cypress Lake in their previous meeting back in December of 2023 by a conclusive 64-42. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Cypress Lake's Obang Ochan, who scored 18 points along with five rebounds. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will First Baptist Academy still be able to contain him? There's only one way to find out.
