Preview: Myers Park Mustangs vs. Palisades Pumas
Myers Park has been on the road for two straight, but on Tuesday they'll finally head home. They will take on the Palisades Pumas at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the pair will really light up the scoreboard.
Myers Park and Paul VI (ranked eight and two in the MaxPreps national rankings respectively) squared off in a high-profile matchup. Myers Park took a 78-70 hit to the loss column at the hands of Paul VI on Saturday. Despite running the score up even higher than they did last Saturday (60), Myers Park still had to take the loss.
Despite the defeat, Myers Park had strong showings from Sir Mohammed, who scored 30 points along with nine rebounds, and Sadiq White Jr., who scored 25 points along with seven rebounds. The match was White Jr.'s fifth in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Bishop Boswell, who scored six points along with six assists and three steals.
Meanwhile, Palisades had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 29 points), and they went ahead and made it four on Friday. They walked away with a 68-59 win over Berry. Given Palisades' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 145th, while Berry is ranked 465th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Among those leading the charge was Kendric Davis, who scored 15 points. Davis also scored 15 points for the first time this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Tymon Simpkins, who scored nine points.
Myers Park's defeat dropped their record down to 3-2. As for Palisades, they pushed their record up to 5-2 with that victory, which was their fourth straight at home.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as the two teams are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Myers Park hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having only averaged 61 points per game. However, it's not like Palisades struggles in that department as they've been averaging only 67.9 points per game. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Everything came up roses for Myers Park against Palisades when the teams last played back in January as the squad secured a 84-49 win. With Myers Park ahead 51-23 at the half, the match was all but over already.
