Basketball Game Preview: Raleigh Lions vs. St. Andrew's Episcopal Saints

Raleigh is 1-9 against St. Andrew's Episcopal since January of 2019 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Raleigh Lions will take on the St. Andrew's Episcopal Saints at 7:30 p.m. Given that both suffered a loss in their last games, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this match.

Raleigh came up short against Pelahatchie on Tuesday, falling 69-43. While losing is never fun, the Lions can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Mississippi basketball rankings (they are ranked 268th, while the Chiefs are ranked 37th).

Meanwhile, St. Andrew's Episcopal was just a bucket shy of victory on Tuesday and fell 41-40 to Puckett. The Saints have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.

Raleigh will need focus on slowing down William Johnson, one of several St. Andrew's Episcopal players who made an impact when they last played. He posted six points in addition to 12 boards and three blocks. Johnson has been hot, having posted nine or more rebounds the last five times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Warwick Alley, who went 5 for 12 on his way to 13 points along with seven boards and three steals.

St. Andrew's Episcopal now has a losing record at 10-11. As for Raleigh, their loss ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 5-15.

Raleigh didn't have too much breathing room in their game against St. Andrew's Episcopal when the teams last played on January 14th, but they still walked away with a 60-56 win. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was St. Andrew's Episcopal's Jeffery Willis, who went 11 of 15 en route to 27 points. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Raleigh still be able to contain Willis? There's only one way to find out.