Basketball Game Preview: Smoky Mountain Mustangs vs. North Henderson Knights

Smoky Mountain hasn't had much luck against North Henderson recently, but that could start to change on Thursday. The Smoky Mountain Mustangs will head out to face off against the North Henderson Knights at 7:30 p.m. Smoky Mountain knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 55 points or more in their past five contests -- so hopefully North Henderson likes a good challenge.

Smoky Mountain is headed into the matchup out to prove that what happened against Franklin on Tuesday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Smoky Mountain was beaten by Franklin 88-57. While losing is never fun, the Mustangs can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 438th, while the Panthers are ranked 155th).

Meanwhile, North Henderson came up short against East Henderson on Tuesday and fell 53-41. That's two games in a row now that the Knights have lost by exactly 12 points.

North Henderson's defeat ended a four-game streak of away wins and brought them to 12-10. As for Smoky Mountain, they now have a losing record at 10-11.

Smoky Mountain came up short against North Henderson when the teams last played two weeks ago, falling 65-60. Can Smoky Mountain avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.