Basketball Game Preview: Charlestown Townies vs. North Andover Scarlet Knights

The Charlestown Townies are taking a road trip to square off against the North Andover Scarlet Knights at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. Given that the two teams suffered a loss in their last games, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this matchup.

Charlestown is coming in off a wild two-game stretch: after soaring to 66 points last Tuesday, they were much more limited against Boston Latin Academy on Saturday. They lost 51-30 to the Dragons. The contest marked the Townies' lowest-scoring game so far this season.

Meanwhile, North Andover lost to Lowell on the road by a 77-58 margin on Tuesday. While losing is never fun, the Scarlet Knights can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Massachusetts basketball rankings (they are ranked 66th, while the Red Raiders are ranked eighth).

North Andover's loss was their third straight on the road, which dropped their record down to 9-7. That patch can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 63.3 points over those games. As for Charlestown, their defeat dropped their record down to 10-5.