Basketball Game Preview: Elkmont Red Devils vs. Athens Bible Trojans

The Elkmont Red Devils will wrap up 2024 with a road trip to face off against the Athens Bible Trojans at 7:30 p.m. on Monday. Athens Bible took a loss in their last match and will be looking to turn the tables on Elkmont, who comes in off a win.

Elkmont will bounce into Monday's game after beating West Limestone, who they had gone 1-8 against in their nine prior meetings. Elkmont snuck past West Limestone with a 47-42 win last Friday.

Meanwhile, while it was all tied up 36-36 at halftime, Athens Bible was not quite Ardmore's equal in the second half on Friday. They fell just short of the Tigers by a score of 60-58. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest defeat the Trojans have suffered since January 2nd.

Elkmont will need focus on slowing down Noah Hester, one of several Athens Bible players who made an impact when they last played. He dropped a double-double on 21 points and 13 boards. Hester continues to improve, besting his previous point total in each of the last three games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Luke Murrell, who went 6 of 11 on his way to 17 points.

Elkmont is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four contests, which provided a nice bump to their 6-7 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 52.3 points per game. As for Athens Bible, their loss dropped their record down to 6-3.

Elkmont and Athens Bible were neck-and-neck in their previous meeting back in December of 2023, but Elkmont came up empty-handed after a 65-64 defeat. Can Elkmont avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.