Basketball Game Preview: Penn Hills Indians vs. Shaler Area Titans

The Penn Hills Indians are taking a road trip to square off against the Shaler Area Titans at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. The squads are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Penn Hills has struggled recently with three losses in a row, while Shaler Area will arrive with four straight victories.

Penn Hills is likely headed into the matchup with a focus on the second half, which is when things went downhill against Knoch on Sunday. Penn Hills fell just short of Knoch by a score of 34-32. While the Indians didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Knights 9-5 in the first quarter.

Meanwhile, Shaler Area hadn't done well against Norwin recently (they were 0-9 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Sunday. It was close, but Shaler Area capped 2024 with a 40-38 win over Norwin. While the Titans didn't have the best season last year (they finished 7-14), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past.

Penn Hills' defeat dropped their record down to 1-8. As for Shaler Area, their victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 9-1.

Penn Hills beat Shaler Area 45-38 when the teams last played back in December of 2015. The rematch might be a little tougher for Penn Hills since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.