Basketball Game Preview: Start Spartans vs. Northwood Rangers

The Start Spartans will wrap up 2024 with a road trip to face off against the Northwood Rangers at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Start has nine straight victories, Northwood has ten straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the court.

While Start didn't have the best season last year (they finished 9-13), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past. The stars were shining brightly for them in a 56-37 win over Genoa Area on Saturday. Given the Spartans' advantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 43rd, while the Comets are ranked 157th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, Northwood played a tough contest on Friday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They had to suffer through a 54-17 loss at the hands of Ottawa Hills. The Rangers were in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 30-5.

Start's victory was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 9-0. Those victories came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 21.8 points per game. As for Northwood, their loss dropped their record down to 0-9.