Basketball Game Preview: Bessemer City Yellow Jackets vs. Shelby Golden Lions

The Bessemer City Yellow Jackets will head out on the road to square off against the Shelby Golden Lions at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: both posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.

Bessemer City is headed into Tuesday's match looking for a big change in momentum after dropping their third straight game on Friday. They fell 68-58 to Highland Tech.

Meanwhile, after a string of four wins, Shelby's good fortune finally ran out on Wednesday. They were just a bucket shy of victory and fell 71-70 to Crest. While losing is never fun, the Golden Lions can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 249th, while the Chargers are ranked 46th).

Bessemer City will have to keep a close watch on Lan Farmer and Omari Whiteside, a pair of players who had a big impact on Shelby's prior game. Farmer dropped a double-double on 13 points and ten boards, while Whiteside went 6 for 11 on his way to 17 points and seven assists. Farmer is becoming a predictor of Shelby's success: when he posts at least ten rebounds the team is 6-3 (and 2-3 when he doesn't). The team also got some help courtesy of Grady Morgan, who posted 11 points.

Bessemer City's defeat dropped their record down to 10-7. As for Shelby, their loss ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 8-6.

Things could have been worse for Bessemer City, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 72-58 loss to Shelby when the teams last played last Tuesday. Can Bessemer City avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.