Basketball Game Preview: Southbridge Pioneers vs. Bartlett Indians

The Southbridge Pioneers will head out on the road to take on the Bartlett Indians at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday. The two teams each escaped (but just barely!) with wins against their previous opponents.

Southbridge will head into Thursday's contest on the come-up: they were handed a 27-point loss in their previous outing, but that didn't affect their clutch gene on Thursday. They skirted past Auburn 47-45. The win was all the more spectacular given the Pioneers' disadvantage in MaxPreps' Massachusetts basketball rankings (they are ranked 273rd, while the Rockets are ranked 99th).

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Bartlett). They narrowly escaped with a victory as the team sidled past Oxford 67-65.

Bartlett's win bumped their record up to 5-7. As for Southbridge, their victory ended a four-game drought at home and bumped them up to 2-9.

Southbridge didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Bartlett when the teams last played back in January of 2024, but they still walked away with a 51-47 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for Southbridge since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.