Basketball Game Preview: Shelbyville Dragons vs. Brookeland Wildcats

The Shelbyville Dragons will take on the Brookeland Wildcats in a tournament on Thursday. Shelbyville will be looking to extend their current seven-game winning streak.

Last Friday, Shelbyville earned a 50-42 victory over Chireno. Given the Dragons' advantage in MaxPreps' Texas basketball rankings (they are ranked 192nd, while the Owls are ranked 391st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Brookeland). They took their game on Friday with ease, bagging a 113-9 win over High Island. The matchup was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 70-5.

Shelbyville better focus on containing Landon Smith and Cade Morgan as the pair were huge in Brookeland's win. Smith went 18 for 25 on his way to 40 points in addition to six assists and five steals, while Morgan went 10 of 14 en route to 27 points along with seven boards and six steals. That makes it three consecutive games in which Smith has scored at least a third of Brookeland's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Zack Beatty, who went 8 of 11 on his way to 16 points and six steals.

Brookeland smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 18 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least ten offensive rebounds in 15 consecutive contests.

Shelbyville's victory was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 9-2. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 52.4 points per game. As for Brookeland, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five games, which provided a nice bump to their 10-5 record this season.

Everything came up roses for Shelbyville against Brookeland in their previous meeting back in December of 2022, as the squad secured a 64-34 win. Does Shelbyville have another victory up their sleeve, or will Brookeland turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.