Basketball Game Preview: Hope Academy Trojan Tigers vs. South Lake Eagles

Hope Academy has won five straight games at home, while South Lake has won five straight on the road, but those streaks won't matter much on Friday. The Hope Academy Trojan Tigers just played last yesterday, but they'll still welcome the South Lake Eagles at 7:00 p.m. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.

Hope Academy is headed into the matchup having just posted their closest victory since January 13th on Thursday. They had just enough and edged Altamonte Christian out 65-63.

Willie Griggs and Nathaniel Boyer were among the main playmakers for Hope Academy as the former dropped a triple-double on 14 points, ten boards, and ten blocks and the latter went 5 of 9 en route to 17 points along with seven rebounds and six steals. With that strong performance, Boyer is now averaging an impressive 2 steals per game. The team also got some help courtesy of Nehemiah Rapael, who posted nine points and seven boards.

Hope Academy smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 17 offensive rebounds. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their offensive rebound total in three consecutive contests.

Meanwhile, South Lake was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap on Tuesday as they fell 60-56 to Leesburg.

South Lake's loss dropped their record down to 14-9. As for Hope Academy, their win bumped their record up to 19-9.

Hope Academy and South Lake were neck-and-neck in their previous matchup two weeks ago, but Hope Academy came up empty-handed after a 73-72 defeat. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of South Lake's Isaiah Pina, who dropped a double-double on 38 points and ten rebounds. Now that Hope Academy knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.