Basketball Game Preview: Circleville Tigers vs. New Lexington Panthers

A feisty cat fight will be fought as the Tigers duke it out with the Panthers at 8:30 p.m. on Monday. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

Circleville took a loss when they played away from home on Monday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Thursday. They managed a 48-44 win over Gallia Academy.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask New Lexington). They blew past Westfall 76-55 on Thursday. Given the Panthers' advantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 244th, while the Mustangs are ranked 564th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Circleville has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four games. That's provided a nice bump to their 14-9 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 56.0 points over those games. The victory was the third in a row for New Lexington, bringing their record for this year to 13-10.

Circleville came up short against New Lexington in their previous meeting back in February of 2024, falling 51-40. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of New Lexington's Bentley Hanson, who dropped a double-double with 18 points and 11 boards. Now that Circleville knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.