Basketball Game Preview: Bleckley County Royals vs. Southwest Patriots

Bleckley County and Southwest are an even 5-5 against one another since February of 2019, but not for long. The Bleckley County Royals will welcome the Southwest Patriots at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Both teams are coming into the game red-hot, with Bleckley County sitting on five straight wins and Southwest on four.

On Saturday, Bleckley County took their match with ease, bagging a 66-38 victory over Academy for Classical Education. The Royals have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won seven contests by 20 points or more this season.

Meanwhile, Southwest's game on Saturday was all tied up 30-30 at the half, but luckily for them it didn't stay that way. They strolled past Central with points to spare, taking the game 66-52. Given the Patriots' advantage in MaxPreps' Georgia basketball rankings (they are ranked 53rd, while the Chargers are ranked 360th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Bleckley County better focus on containing Chase Dupree and Brandon Ashley as the pair were huge in Southwest's win. Dupree posted 21 points, while Ashley went 5 for 9 en route to 17 points. Dupree's evening made it four games in a row in which he has scored at least ten points. C.J. Howard was another key player, putting up 13 points.

Bleckley County has been performing well recently as they've won eight of their last ten games, which provided a nice bump to their 13-9 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 54.1 points per game. As for Southwest, their win bumped their record up to 18-2.

Bleckley County came out on top in a nail-biter against Southwest when the teams last played back in January, sneaking past 39-37. Will Bleckley County repeat their success, or does Southwest have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.