Basketball Game Preview: Northern Patriots vs. Lackey Chargers

Having just played yesterday, the Northern Patriots will head out on the road to face off against the Lackey Chargers at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Northern easily dispatched Patuxent on Thursday, but unfortunately both the margin and the ultimate result were a different story in this one. Northern fell just short of St. Charles by a score of 51-49 on Monday. The Patriots' loss signaled the end of their four-game winning streak.

Meanwhile, Lackey humbled Calvert with a 62-34 victory. Given the Chargers' advantage in MaxPreps' Maryland basketball rankings (they are ranked 75th, while the Cavaliers are ranked 249th), the result on Friday wasn't entirely unexpected.

Northern better keep an eye on Malik Gordon. He was instrumental in Lackey's win, dropping a double-double on 11 points and 11 steals. Those 11 steals gave Gordon a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Isaiah Mansaray, who posted 11 points and six assists.

Lackey is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven contests, which provided a nice bump to their 8-2 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 61.7 points per game. As for Northern, their defeat was their first in the region, dropping their region record down to 3-1 and their overall record down to 8-2.

Northern beat Lackey 65-55 when the teams last played back in January of 2024. The rematch might be a little tougher for Northern since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.