Basketball Game Preview: Hazleton Area Cougars vs. Coatesville Red Raiders

The Hazleton Area Cougars will challenge the Coatesville Red Raiders at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Hazleton Area has 12 straight wins, Coatesville has five straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the court.

Last Wednesday, Hazleton Area was fully in charge, breezing past Pittston 78-50. The Cougars have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won ten games by 20 points or more this season.

Meanwhile, Coatesville came up short against Downingtown East on Thursday and fell 54-44. While losing is never fun, the Red Raiders can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania basketball rankings (they are ranked 213th, while the Cougars are ranked 23rd).

Hazleton Area pushed their record up to 12-0 with the victory, which was their seventh straight on the road dating back to last season. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 32.1 points. As for Coatesville, their defeat dropped their record down to 6-6.