Basketball Game Preview: Berry Cardinals vs. South Mecklenburg Sabres

The Berry Cardinals will face off against the South Mecklenburg Sabres at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.

Berry will bounce into Thursday's contest after beating Ardrey Kell, who they had gone 0-9 against in their nine prior meetings. Berry snuck past Ardrey Kell with a 67-61 win on Tuesday. The victory was all the more spectacular given the Cardinals' disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 258th, while the Knights are ranked 77th).

Meanwhile, you're bound to get a positive result if you outscore your opponent every quarter, and that's exactly how it played out for South Mecklenburg on Tuesday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that they blew Ballantyne Ridge out of the water with a 76-39 final score. That 37 point margin sets a new team best for the Sabres this season.

South Mecklenburg's win came from a few key players Berry will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Jim Gatehouse, who went 5-for-7 en route to 15 points. What's more, he also posted a 75% three-point shooting accuracy, which is the highest he's achieved since back in December of 2024. Ben Houpt was another key player, putting up 13 points along with six rebounds and five assists.

South Mecklenburg was working as a unit and finished the game with 20 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.

Berry has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four games, which provided a massive bump to their 10-15 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 59.3 points over those games. As for South Mecklenburg, their win bumped their record up to 15-10.

Berry didn't have too much breathing room in their match against South Mecklenburg in their previous meeting back in January, but they still walked away with a 62-57 victory. Will Berry repeat their success, or does South Mecklenburg have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.