Basketball Game Preview: Meridian Wildcats vs. Brandon Bulldogs

Meridian and Brandon are an even 5-5 against one another since January of 2022, but not for long. The Meridian Wildcats will challenge the Brandon Bulldogs at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.

It was a proper cat-fight when Meridian faced off against Petal on Friday. Meridian enjoyed a cozy 68-53 victory over Petal. Given the Wildcats' advantage in MaxPreps' Mississippi basketball rankings (they are ranked 38th, while the Panthers are ranked 136th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, Brandon had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 18.5 points) and they went ahead and made it three on Friday. They blew past the Warriors 57-31.

Meridian better keep an eye on Braylon Barnes. He was instrumental in Brandon's win, putting up 27 points in addition to five rebounds and three steals. Barnes' evening made it 12 games in a row in which he has scored at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Josiah Jackson, who posted six points and three steals.

Brandon is on a roll lately: they've won ten of their last 11 contests, which provided a massive bump to their 16-10 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 62.7 points per game. As for Meridian, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 12-9.

Meridian came up short against Brandon in their previous meeting on January 10th, falling 57-52. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Barnes, who went 7 for 13 on his way to 23 points. Now that Meridian knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.