Preview: Marion County Red Raiders vs. Lynn Bears
After four games on the road, Marion County is heading back home. They will take on the Lynn Bears at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. Marion County knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with flashy point totals in its past 11 games -- so hopefully Lynn likes a good challenge.
Marion County put the finishing touches on their ninth blowout victory of the season on Saturday. They took their match on the road with ease, bagging a 69-39 win over Brilliant. The game was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 43-15.
Marion County's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Tye Madison, who scored 20 points along with three steals and three blocks, and Joe Aldridge, who scored 14 points along with six assists and six steals. Madison is on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed two or more in the last five games he's played. Dalyce Floyd was another key contributor, scoring 11 points along with eight rebounds.
Meanwhile, Lynn had already won six in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 12 points), and they went ahead and made it seven two weeks ago. They secured a 66-60 W over Hackleburg. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
Braylen Roberts and Cale Tittle were among the main playmakers for Lynn as the former dropped a double-double on 18 points and ten rebounds and the latter dropped a double-double on 25 points and ten rebounds. Roberts has been hot recently, having posted eight or more rebounds the last 12 times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Cole Kelly, who scored seven points along with two steals.
Marion County has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven matches, which provided a nice bump to their 18-5 record this season. As for Lynn, their win was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 11-4.
Marion County strolled past Lynn in their previous meeting back in December of 2023 by a score of 73-56. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Roberts, who dropped a double-double on 14 points and ten rebounds. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Marion County still be able to contain him? There's only one way to find out.
