The South Plantation Paladins will face off against the Chaminade-Madonna Lions at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. South Plantation has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last three games.
South Plantation is headed into the match after thoroughly thrashing Nova: they outscored them in every quarter. South Plantation strolled past Nova with points to spare on Wednesday, taking the game 66-47. Given the Paladins' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 79th, while the Titans are ranked 400th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
| 01/15/25 @ Nova | 21 |
| 01/10/25 @ King's Academy | 18 |
| 12/19/24 vs Lake Worth | 18 |
| 12/04/24 vs McArthur | 17 |
| 12/18/24 @ South Broward | 14 |
South Plantation can attribute much of their success to Travis Chin, who went 7 for 14 on his way to 21 points in addition to six rebounds and three steals, and Lathan Coleman, who dropped a double-double on 13 points and ten boards. The dominant performance gave Chin a new career-high in points. Chesnel Desinor was another key player, putting up seven points.
South Plantation smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 12 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least nine offensive rebounds in eight consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, it was a proper cat-fight when Chaminade-Madonna duked it out withCoral Glades on Wednesday. Chaminade-Madonna sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with an 86-84 win over Coral Glades.
South Plantation better keep an eye on Jasen Lopez. He was instrumental in Chaminade-Madonna's win, shooting 5-for-9 from beyond the arc and almost dropping a double-double on 37 points and nine steals. That makes it six consecutive games in which Lopez has scored at least a third of Chaminade-Madonna's points. Another player making a difference was Isaac Mothersill, who posted 22 points and three steals.
Chaminade-Madonna has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won ten of their last 11 games, which provided a nice bump to their 13-3 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 70.7 points per game. As for South Plantation, their victory bumped their record up to 14-5.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as South Plantation and Chaminade-Madonna are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. South Plantation hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 56.6 points per game. However, it's not like Chaminade-Madonna struggles in that department as they've been averaging 67.7 points. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
South Plantation might still be hurting after the 72-49 defeat they got from Chaminade-Madonna when the teams last played back in January of 2016. Can South Plantation avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
