Basketball Game Preview: Jasper Vikings vs. Locust Fork Hornets

Jasper has won six straight games at home, while Locust Fork has won six straight on the road, but those streaks won't matter much on Thursday. The Jasper Vikings will host the Locust Fork Hornets at 5:30 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

Last Tuesday, Jasper was fully in charge, breezing past Mortimer Jordan 83-51. Given the Vikings' advantage in MaxPreps' Alabama basketball rankings (they are ranked 50th, while the Blue Devils are ranked 176th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Locust Fork). They simply couldn't be stopped on Tuesday as they easily beat Hanceville 88-43. The game was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 48-17.

Locust Fork's win came from a few key players Jasper will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Levi White, who went 9 for 13 on his way to 27 points and six rebounds. The contest was his ninth in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Nicholas Horn, who went 6 of 8 from beyond the arc en route to 22 points and three steals.

Locust Fork smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 12 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 12 offensive rebounds in three consecutive matches.

Jasper is on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine games, which provided a nice bump to their 16-5 record this season. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 34.2 points. As for Locust Fork, their win bumped their record up to 14-1.