Preview: Tuscola Mountaineers vs. North Henderson Knights
Tuscola is 2-8 against North Henderson since December of 2019 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Tuscola Mountaineers will head out on the road to face off against the North Henderson Knights at 6:00 p.m. The teams are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Tuscola has struggled recently with seven defeats in a row, while North Henderson will arrive with six straight wins.
Last Tuesday, Tuscola was beaten by West Henderson 88-53. While losing is never fun, Tuscola can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 566th, while West Henderson is ranked 113th).
Despite the defeat, Tuscola saw an underclassman step up: Jeremy Horton scored six points along with nine rebounds and seven blocks. Horton has been hot recently, having posted three or more blocks the last three times he's played. Peyton Ollis was another key contributor, scoring eight points along with five rebounds and two steals.
North Henderson only won by three when they last took the court, which might have inspired the 20-point they dealt Pisgah on Tuesday. North Henderson blew past Pisgah 82-62. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
North Henderson can attribute much of their success to Zion McDaniel, who scored 23 points along with seven rebounds and two steals, and Bryson Rowe, who shot 5-for-11 from beyond the arc and dropped a double-double on 24 points and 11 rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Rowe has scored all season. Another player making a difference was Noah Pierce, who scored 14 points along with two steals.
Tuscola's loss was their third straight on the road, which dropped their record down to 1-19. The slump could be explained by some tough opposition over that stretch, namely West Henderson, Pisgah, and North Henderson. As for North Henderson, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight contests, which provided a nice bump to their 19-5 record this season.
Friday's matchup will pit two of the most dominant guards against one another: Jed West and Pierce. West has been dynamite this season: he has averaged 14.5 points, 2.5 steals, and 4.2 rebounds. For his part, Pierce has averaged 18.1 points, 1.8 steals, and 4.3 rebounds.
Tuscola was taken down by North Henderson 73-32 in their previous matchup back in January. Can Tuscola avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
