Basketball Game Preview: Screven County Gamecocks vs. Mount Paran Christian Eagles

The Screven County Gamecocks and the Mount Paran Christian Eagles will compete for holiday cheer at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Screven County knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with 55 points or more in their past nine games -- so hopefully Mount Paran Christian likes a good challenge.

Screven County will bounce into Thursday's matchup after beating Bryan County, who they had gone 1-8 against in their nine prior meetings. The Gamecocks had just enough and edged out the Redskins 61-59. The final result isn't all that surprising considering the Gamecocks' considerable advantage in MaxPreps' Georgia basketball rankings (they are ranked 92nd, while the Redskins are ranked 346th).

Screven County's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Rodney Beckwith led the charge by dropping a double-double with 19 points and 14 boards. Kajay Tyler was another key player, going 6-for-9 en route to 13 points and six steals.

Meanwhile, Mount Paran Christian came up short against Tucker on Saturday, falling 78-56. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on Friday (55), the Eagles still had to take the loss.

This is the second loss in a row for Mount Paran Christian and nudges their season record down to 6-4. As for Screven County, their victory bumped their record up to 7-2.