Basketball Preview: Hillman Tigers vs. Atlanta Huskies
Hillman is 10-0 against the Huskies since December of 2019, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Tuesday. The Hillman Tigers will head out on the road to challenge the Atlanta Huskies at 7:00 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Hillman has ten straight wins, the Huskies have 18 straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
In what's become a running theme this season, Hillman gave their fans yet another huge victory on Friday. They claimed a resounding 69-18 win over Au Gres-Sims at home. Given Hillman's advantage in MaxPreps' Michigan basketball rankings (they are ranked 253rd, while the Wolverines are ranked 736th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Hillman can attribute much of their success to Blake Kennard, who dropped a double-double on 21 points and 12 rebounds, and Trenton Taratuta, who shot 4-for-10 from beyond the arc and almost dropped a double-double on 27 points and nine rebounds. Taratuta has been hot recently, having posted 17 or more points the last 12 times he's played. Aedan Tucker was another key contributor, scoring five points along with seven rebounds and three blocks.
Meanwhile, it's never fun to lose, and it's even less fun to lose 76-15, which was the final score in Atlanta's tilt against the Vikings on Friday.
Hillman's win was their 11th straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 15-2. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 67.7 points per game. As for Atlanta, their loss dropped their record down to 0-10.
Everything came up roses for Hillman against the Huskies in their previous meeting back in January as the squad secured a 76-16 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Hillman since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
