Basketball Game Preview: Commerce Tigers vs. Lanier Longhorns

The Commerce Tigers will challenge the Lanier Longhorns at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. Commerce knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 55 points or more in their past five games -- so hopefully Lanier likes a good challenge.

It was a proper cat-fight when Commerce duked it out with Franklin County on Thursday. The Tigers came out on top against the Lions by a score of 76-69. The win continues a trend for the Tigers in their matchups with the Lions: they've now won three in a row.

Essien Lockleer

Points (Career)

12/04/25 vs Franklin County	37
12/20/24 vs Providence Christian Academy	21
12/05/24 @ Franklin County	18
01/25/25 vs Banks County	17
01/14/25 vs Elbert County	15

Essien Lockleer was his usual excellent self, going 11-for-17 on his way to 37 points along with seven assists and five boards. Those 37 points gave him a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Maki Mitchell, who shot 45% from the field to rack up 14 points and four steals.

Lanier has been a dominant force so far, but they're in the middle of a mini-slump at the moment. They lost 66-42 to Johns Creek on Friday. The contest marked the Longhorns' lowest-scoring matchup so far this season.

Commerce's victory bumped their record up to 5-0. As for Lanier, their loss dropped their record down to 6-3.