Basketball Game Preview: Barnegat Bengals vs. Ocean Township Spartans

The Barnegat Bengals will take on the Ocean Township Spartans at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Barnegat will be strutting in after a win while Ocean Township will be coming in after a defeat.

Ocean Township will be up against a hot Barnegat squad: the team just extended their winning streak to three. Barnegat managed a 58-53 victory over Point Pleasant Boro on Wednesday. The win was all the more spectacular given the Bengals' disadvantage in MaxPreps' New Jersey basketball rankings (they are ranked 217th, while the Panthers are ranked 88th).

Meanwhile, Ocean Township ended up a good deal behind Long Branch on Thursday and lost 49-34.

Barnegat is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matches, which provided a nice bump to their 8-6 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 55.0 points per game. As for Ocean Township, they have traveled a rocky road recently having lost four of their last five contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 3-11 record this season.

Barnegat came out on top in a nail-biter against Ocean Township in their previous meeting back in January of 2024, sneaking past 49-47. Will Barnegat repeat their success, or does Ocean Township have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.