Basketball Game Preview: South Gibson Hornets vs. Haywood Tomcats

The South Gibson Hornets will challenge the Haywood Tomcats at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.

South Gibson's tournament run continued when they took on Obion County on Thursday. South Gibson walked away with a 66-55 win over Obion County.

Meanwhile, Haywood suffered their closest loss since January 17th on Tuesday. They fell just short of Fayette Ware by a score of 62-59. While losing is never fun, the Tomcats can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Tennessee basketball rankings (they are ranked 96th, while the Wildcats are ranked 21st).

South Gibson will have to contain Jaybyon Snipe as he made an impact in Haywood's last game. He almost dropped a double-double with 23 points and nine rebounds. The contest was Snipe's third in a row with at least 23 points. Another player making a difference was Ja'Malachi Bond, who shot 71% from the field on his way to 11 points.

South Gibson has been performing well recently as they've won nine of their last 12 matches. That's provided a nice bump to their 19-12 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 59.3 points over those games. Haywood's defeat dropped their record down to 15-13.

South Gibson was taken down by Haywood 69-34 in their previous meeting back in February of 2024. Can South Gibson avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.