Basketball Game Preview: Neville Tigers vs. Lincoln Prep Panthers

A feisty cat fight will be fought as the Tigers challenge the Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Neville knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 55 points or more in their past six contests -- so hopefully Lincoln Prep likes a good challenge.

Neville easily dispatched Pineville on Friday, but unfortunately both the margin and the ultimate result were a different story in this one. Neville fell just short of Rayville by a score of 75-72 on Tuesday. The loss was a bit of a surprise, as the Tigers came into the game with a sizable advantage in MaxPreps' Louisiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 36th, while the Hornets are ranked 162nd).

Meanwhile, Lincoln Prep came tearing into Tuesday's match with five straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 29.8 points), and they left with even more momentum. They came within five points of losing the streak, but they secured a 47-42 W against the Farmers. That's two games straight that the Panthers have won by exactly five points.

Lincoln Prep's victory was their fifth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 23-8. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 59.4 points over those games. As for Neville, their loss dropped their record down to 19-10.

Neville won a contest that couldn't have been any closer when the teams last played back in December of 2024, slipping by Lincoln Prep 55-54. Will Neville repeat their success, or does Lincoln Prep have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.