Basketball Game Preview: Malone Tigers vs. Cottondale Hornets

Malone and Cottondale are an even 5-5 against one another since November of 2020, but not for long. The Malone Tigers will square off against the Cottondale Hornets at 7:30 p.m. on Monday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: both posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.

On Thursday, Malone really took it to Northside Methodist Academy for the full four quarters, racking up a 68-37 win. The game was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 34-10.

Lonnie Gilbert

Points (Career)

01/30/25 @ Northside Methodist Academy	20
01/07/25 @ Vernon	10
11/19/24 vs Northside Methodist Academy	9
01/27/25 vs Marianna	8
01/16/25 vs Liberty County	8

Malone's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Lonnie Gilbert, who went 9 of 14 on his way to 20 points and five rebounds. The dominant performance gave Gilbert a new career-high in points. Another player making a difference was Jamerious Sims, who posted ten points in addition to six assists and six boards.

Meanwhile, Cottondale managed to keep up with Marianna until halftime on Thursday, but things quickly went downhill from there. Cottondale lost 89-65 to Marianna. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on Tuesday (63), the Hornets still had to take the loss.

Malone has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six matches, which provided a nice bump to their 16-7 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 63.5 points per game. As for Cottondale, their loss ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 12-9.

Malone lost to Cottondale on the road by a decisive 50-34 margin when the teams last played back in December of 2024. Can Malone avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.