Preview: St. Stephens Indians vs. Statesville Greyhounds
The St. Stephens Indians and the Statesville Greyhounds will face off at 7:30 p.m. on January 19th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. St. Stephens has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last four games.
While it was all tied up 32-32 at halftime, St. Stephens was not quite Hickory's equal in the second half on Wednesday. St. Stephens took a 84-71 hit to the loss column at the hands of Hickory. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their last game on Tuesday (67), St. Stephens still had to take the loss.
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Noah VanBeurden, who scored 19 points. Another player making a difference was Javian White, who scored 19 points along with five assists and two steals.
Meanwhile, after a string of five wins, Statesville's good fortune finally ran out on Wednesday. They had to suffer through a rough 79-44 loss at the hands of Carson. Statesville was in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 48-27.
Defeat or not, Statesville got some senior leadership from Caleb Tillman and Tatum Tucker. Tillman scored nine points, while Tucker. scored six points along with ten rebounds. Tucker is on a roll when it comes to rebounds, as he's now pulled down eight or more in the last three games he's played.
St. Stephens' defeat ended a five-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 7-8. As for Statesville, their loss ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 7-7.
Friday's matchup is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: St. Stephens have been smashing the glass this season, having only averaged 26.3 rebounds per game. It's a different story for Statesville, though, as they've been averaging only 37.3 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
St. Stephens strolled past Statesville when the teams last played back in February of 2023 by a score of 50-36. Does St. Stephens have another victory up their sleeve, or will Statesville turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
