Basketball Game Preview: McIntosh Chiefs vs. Sandy Creek Patriots

The McIntosh Chiefs will head out on the road to face off against the Sandy Creek Patriots at 6:00 p.m. on Friday.

McIntosh is coming in off a wild two-game stretch: after soaring to 61 points on December 14th, they were much more limited against Starr's Mill last Friday. They were dealt a 61-20 loss at the hands of the Panthers. The Chiefs haven't had much luck with the Panthers recently, as the team's come up short the last four times they've met.

While Sandy Creek didn't have the best season last year (they finished 10-15), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past. They walked away with a 48-36 victory over Greenwood on Saturday. The 48-point effort marked the Patriots' lowest-scoring contest of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.

Sandy Creek has been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 8-3 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 67.2 points per game. As for McIntosh, their defeat dropped their record down to 3-6.

McIntosh didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Sandy Creek when the teams last played back in November of 2023, but they still walked away with a 47-43 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for McIntosh since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.