Basketball Game Preview: Girard Indians vs. McKinley Red Dragons

The Girard Indians will square off against the McKinley Red Dragons at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.

McKinley will be up against a hot Girard team: the squad just extended their winning streak to five. Girard came within four points of losing the streak, but they secured a 59-55 W against South Range. The win was all the more spectacular given the Indians' disadvantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 453rd, while the Raiders are ranked 185th).

Meanwhile, McKinley was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap on Friday as they fell 69-64 to South Range.

Girard will have to contain True Carey-Hardin as he made an impact in McKinley's last game. He went 11 for 21 en route to 28 points and seven rebounds. Thanks to that strong game, Carey-Hardin now owns an excellent 45.3% shooting accuracy. Another player making a difference was Izaiah Redd, who posted ten points and eight boards.

McKinley dropped their record down to 7-12 with the defeat, which was their fifth straight on the road. Those losses can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 51.8 points over those games. As for Girard, their victory bumped their record up to 12-8.

Girard came up short against McKinley when the teams last played back in January, falling 46-42. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of McKinley's Avon Fryer, who went 6 of 11 on his way to 17 points in addition to five assists and five rebounds. Now that Girard knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.