Basketball Game Preview: Hope Blue Wave vs. Achievement First Providence Falcons

The Hope Blue Wave will face off against the Achievement First Providence Falcons on Thursday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Hope has four straight victories, Achievement First Providence has five straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the court.

If Hope beats Achievement First Providence with 71 points on Thursday, it's going to be the team's new lucky number: they've won their past two contests with that exact score. Hope took their matchup on Tuesday with ease, bagging a 71-12 win over Cuffee/St. Patrick Academy. That's two games straight that the Blue Wave have won by exactly 59 points.

Hope found their leader in sophomore Jorday Johnson, who dropped a double-double on 30 points and 17 rebounds. That makes it five consecutive games in which Johnson has scored at least a third of Hope's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Aniyah Brito, who posted 12 points and six steals.

Meanwhile, Achievement First Providence played a tough game on Tuesday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They were outmatched by Lincoln School and fell 63-23. The Falcons were in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 42-9.

Hope's victory was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 5-3. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 58.8 points per game. As for Achievement First Providence, their loss dropped their record down to 0-5.