The Central Bears are on the road again on Thursday and plays the Lakewood Spartans at 7:00 p.m. on February 15th. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Two teams were on the hunt for playoff glory, but only Central walked away with it. They enjoyed a cozy 82-67 win over the Leopards on Saturday. Given Central's advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 180th, while Hernando is ranked 532nd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Central's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was David Villarroel, who shot 4-for-6 from beyond the arc and dropped a double-double on 24 points and 11 rebounds. Villarroel hasn't dropped below 15 points for four straight games. The team also got some help courtesy of Ethan Bergantino, who scored 18 points along with seven assists and seven rebounds.
Meanwhile, after a string of three wins, Lakewood's good fortune finally ran out on Thursday. They fell just short of Robinson by a score of 66-64.
Central is on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last 11 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 21-6 record this season. As for Lakewood, their defeat dropped their record down to 10-15.
Central was able to grind out a solid victory over Lakewood in their previous meeting back in February of 2022, winning 69-56. Will Central repeat their success, or does Lakewood have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
