Basketball Recap: Long County Takes Loss Despite Strong Performances from Christopher Hatfield and Jy'son Mallard

Long County lost against Windsor Forest back in February of 2019 and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Tuesday. The Long County Blue Tide took an 83-74 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Windsor Forest Knights. While losing is never fun, the Blue Tide can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Georgia basketball rankings (they are ranked 269th, while the Knights are ranked 57th).

Long County's loss came despite strong showings from Jy'Son Mallard and Christopher Hatfield. Mallard went 5 of 12 on his way to 19 points, while Hatfield dropped a double-double on 11 points and 11 rebounds. The dominant performance gave Hatfield a new career-high in points. The team also got some help courtesy of Zyi'Air Holt, who posted 17 points and seven boards.

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Windsor Forest to victory, but perhaps none more so than Troy Smith, who had 28 points. Another player making a difference was Landon Page, who put up 15 points.

Long County has been struggling recently as they've lost four of their last five matchups, which put a noticeable dent in their 7-10 record this season. That patch can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 56.2 points per game. As for Windsor Forest, the win (which was their eighth in a row) raised their record to 13-3.

Both teams will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Long County will challenge Southeast Bulloch at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Long County is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 53.9 points per game this season. As for Windsor Forest, they will square off against Liberty County at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Windsor Forest knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 55 points or more in their past eight games -- so hopefully Liberty County likes a good challenge.