Preview: Hardaway Hawks vs. Columbus Blue Devils
Hardaway has enjoyed a two-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will face off against the Columbus Blue Devils at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Hardaway scored the most points they've had all season to find success on Friday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Harris County 84-43 at home. With Hardaway ahead 37-16 at the half, the match was all but over already.
Lamell Mims continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, scoring 21 points along with five steals. Those five steals set a new season-high mark for him. The team also got some help courtesy of Mekhi Benton, who scored 14 points along with four steals.
Meanwhile, Columbus entered their tilt with Northside with six consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with seven. Columbus blew past Northside 77-48 at home. Given Columbus' advantage in MaxPreps' Georgia basketball rankings (they are ranked 165th, while Northside is ranked 445th), the result on Friday wasn't entirely unexpected.
Hardaway has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four games, which provided a nice bump to their 5-4 record this season. As for Columbus, they pushed their record up to 9-3 with that win, which was their fifth straight at home.
Hardaway couldn't quite finish off Columbus when the teams last played two weeks ago and fell 54-52. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Columbus' Oakley Koontz, who scored eight points along with 11 rebounds and six blocks. Now that Hardaway knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
