Basketball Game Preview: Athens Drive Jaguars vs. Sanderson Spartans

Two dominant guards in Marcus Green and Nathan Fife are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Athens Drive Jaguars will welcome the Sanderson Spartans at 7:45 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.

Athens Drive is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They enjoyed a cozy 63-44 win over Riverside-Durham on Monday. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the team's high-flying offense, the game also marked the team's biggest victory of the season.

Meanwhile, Sanderson came tearing into Friday's contest with four straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 8 points) and they left with even more momentum. They breezed by the Wolverines to the tune of 62-34. Given the Spartans' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 21st, while the Wolverines are ranked 149th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Athens Drive better focus on containing Fife and Mack Snavely as the pair were huge in Sanderson's win. Fife almost dropped a double-double on 12 points and nine assists, while Snavely went 5 of 8 en route to 14 points and six rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Malakhi Murphy, who posted 12 points and five rebounds.

Sanderson was working as a unit and finished the game with 19 assists. That's the most assists they've posted since back in December of 2023.

Sanderson's win bumped their record up to 12-2. As for Athens Drive, their victory bumped their record up to 5-6.

Athens Drive lost to Sanderson at home by a decisive 58-44 margin in their previous matchup back in February of 2024. Can Athens Drive avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.