Preview: Thomasville Tigers vs. Hillcrest Jaguars
The Thomasville Tigers will head out on the road to face off against the Hillcrest Jaguars at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Thomasville will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Alabama Rankings (they are ranked 383rd, while Hillcrest is ranked 60th).
Thomasville suffered their closest loss yet this season on Saturday. They fell just short of Alabama Christian Academy by a score of 48-46.
Meanwhile, Hillcrest came tearing into Wednesday's contest with five straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 21.8 points) and they left with even more momentum. Everything went their way against Robertsdale as Hillcrest made off with a 63-39 victory. Hillcrest has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 11 matchups by 23 points or more this season.
Hillcrest found their leader in underclassman J.T. Barlow, who scored 19 points. That's the first time this season that Barlow scored 15 or more points. The team also got some help courtesy of Jermonte Stallworth, who scored ten points along with three steals.
Thomasville has traveled a rocky road recently, as they've lost six of their last seven matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 4-15 record this season. As for Hillcrest, they are on a roll lately: they've won 12 of their last 13 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 21-4 record this season.
Thomasville was taken down by Hillcrest 72-45 in their previous meeting back in December of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Hillcrest's Robert Simpson, who dropped a double-double on 23 points and ten rebounds. Now that Thomasville knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
