Basketball Game Preview: Hawthorne Hornets vs. Mainland Buccaneers

The Hawthorne Hornets will be taking part in a tournament against the Mainland Buccaneers at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both will really light up the scoreboard.

Mainland is hoping to do what Palm Bay couldn't on Saturday: put an end to Hawthorne's winning streak, which now stands at three games. Hawthorne was the clear victor by a 65-41 margin over Palm Bay.

Hawthorne got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Darian Bowie out in front who posted eight points along with six boards and six steals. Those six boards gave Bowie a new career-high. Kelvin Baker was another key player, going 5 of 9 on his way to 12 points along with five boards and three steals.

Meanwhile, after a string of five wins, Mainland's good fortune finally ran out on Saturday. They took a hard 74-60 fall against East River.

Hawthorne will need focus on slowing down Beegie Gordon, one of several Mainland players who made an impact when they last played. He went 6 of 10 from beyond the arc en route to 20 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Kade Manley, who had 16 points and seven rebounds.

Even though they lost, Mainland smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 18 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in eight consecutive matches.

Mainland's loss dropped their record down to 7-5. As for Hawthorne, their victory bumped their record up to 3-0.

Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as the two teams are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Hawthorne hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 65.3 points per game. However, it's not like Mainland struggles in that department as they've been averaging 64.1 points. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more basketball content.