Basketball Game Preview: Athens Hornets vs. Pine Tree Pirates

The Athens Hornets will head out on the road to take on the Pine Tree Pirates at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Both teams are coming into the matchup red-hot, with Athens sitting on ten straight victories and Pine Tree on three.

Last Tuesday, Athens didn't have too much breathing room in their contest against Van, but they still walked away with a 52-47 win. Given the Hornets' advantage in MaxPreps' Texas basketball rankings (they are ranked 279th, while the Vandals are ranked 563rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Pine Tree). They took their game on Tuesday with ease, bagging an 85-49 victory over Henderson. That's two games straight that the Pirates have won by exactly 36 points.

Athens pushed their record up to 23-8 with the win, which was their fifth straight on the road. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 62.2 points over those games. As for Pine Tree, their victory bumped their record up to 20-12.

Athens beat Pine Tree 68-61 in their previous matchup back in December of 2016. Will Athens repeat their success, or does Pine Tree have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.