Basketball Game Preview: Smoky Mountain Mustangs vs. Avery County Vikings

The Smoky Mountain Mustangs and the Avery County Vikings will face off at 3:30 p.m. on Friday without much rest having both just played. Smoky Mountain knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with 55 points or more in their past ten games -- so hopefully Avery County likes a good challenge.

Smoky Mountain saw some tournament action on Thursday. They fell 69-60 to East Burke.

Smoky Mountain might have lost, but man, Custer Prenger was a machine: he dropped a double-double on 25 points and 14 rebounds. Prenger's afternoon made it ten games in a row in which he has scored at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Ben Brown, who posted 12 points.

Avery County has been a dominant force so far, but they're in the middle of a mini-slump at the moment. They had to suffer through a 80-51 loss at the hands of McDowell. The contest marked the Vikings' lowest-scoring match so far this season.

Smoky Mountain will have to contain Hank Johnson as he made an impact in Avery County's last game. He went 7 of 13 en route to 25 points. Johnson is trending in the right direction considering he's improved his point production for three straight games. The team also got some help courtesy of Landon Liner, who put up 13 points.

Avery County's loss dropped their record down to 7-3. As for Smoky Mountain, their defeat dropped their record down to 5-5.

Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as both are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Smoky Mountain hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 74.8 points per game. However, it's not like Avery County struggles in that department as they've been averaging 65.7 points. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.

Smoky Mountain skirted past Avery County 62-59 in their previous meeting back in November of 2014. Does Smoky Mountain have another victory up their sleeve, or will Avery County turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.