Basketball Game Preview: Hazelwood Central Hawks vs. East St. Louis Flyers

The Hazelwood Central Hawks will be home for the holidays to greet the East St. Louis Flyers at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Hazelwood Central has three straight victories, East St. Louis has four straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the court.

Last Thursday, even if it wasn't a dominant performance, Hazelwood Central beat Nerinx Hall 51-45.

Meanwhile, East St. Louis came up short against Collinsville on Thursday and fell 58-45. While losing is never fun, the Flyers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 340th, while the Kahoks are ranked 117th).

Hazelwood Central's win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 4-2. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 53.0 points per game. As for East St. Louis, their loss dropped their record down to 2-6.

Hazelwood Central didn't have too much breathing room in their game against East St. Louis in their previous meeting back in December of 2018, but they still walked away with a 49-45 victory. Does Hazelwood Central have another victory up their sleeve, or will East St. Louis turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.