Basketball Game Preview: Reading Rangers vs. Stockbridge Panthers

The Reading Rangers will face off against the Stockbridge Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.

Last Tuesday, Reading was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap as they fell 64-59 to Maple Valley. The Rangers have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.

Despite the defeat, Reading got top-tier performance from Brayden Wright, who almost dropped a double-double with 20 points and nine rebounds. That was a full 33.9% of Reading's points, marking the fourth time in a row Wright has posted more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Marco Bailey, who went 5-for-12 to rack up 14 points.

Meanwhile, it may have taken overtime to finish the job, but Stockbridge ultimately got the result they hoped for on Tuesday. They came out on top against Bronson by a score of 70-63. Given the Panthers' advantage in MaxPreps' Michigan basketball rankings (they are ranked 129th, while the Vikings are ranked 356th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Stockbridge is on a roll lately: they've won 12 of their last 13 games, which provided a nice bump to their 17-4 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 62.1 points over those games. As for Reading, their loss dropped their record down to 3-18.

Reading took a serious blow against Stockbridge in their previous matchup back in January, falling 64-18. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Stockbridge's Shannon Henderson, who dropped a double-double with 27 points and 13 boards. Now that Reading knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.