Basketball Game Preview: Wheelersburg Pirates vs. Fairland Dragons

The Wheelersburg Pirates will square off against the Fairland Dragons at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Wheelersburg comes in on four and Fairland on 15.

Wheelersburg saw some tournament action on Friday. They managed a 38-33 win over Oak Hill.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Fairland). They simply couldn't be stopped on Friday as they easily beat River Valley 82-39. The contest was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 42-20.

Fairland's win came from a few key players Wheelersburg will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Brody Buchanan, who went 9-for-14 on his way to 24 points and eight assists. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in three-point shooting accuracy (71%). Gabe Polcyn was another key player, going 7-for-8 to rack up 14 points in addition to five boards and five steals.

Fairland was working as a unit and finished the game with 23 assists. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their assist total in three consecutive matches.

Fairland's victory was their ninth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 21-1. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 66.6 points over those games. As for Wheelersburg, the win got them back to even at 11-11.

Wheelersburg won a game that couldn't have been any closer in their previous matchup back in February of 2024, slipping by Fairland 76-75. Does Wheelersburg have another victory up their sleeve, or will Fairland turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.