Preview: First Flight Nighthawks vs. Swansboro Pirates
The First Flight Nighthawks will head out on the road to challenge the Swansboro Pirates at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. First Flight is looking to tack on another W to their six-game streak on the road.
It can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but First Flight had no problem doing just that on Friday. They came out on top against the Scorpions by a score of 72-61. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
It was another big night for Mason Dobie, who scored 41 points. As a matter of fact, that's the most points he has scored all season. Another player making a difference was Burke Powers, who scored 11 points.
Meanwhile, Swansboro had already won 25 in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 21 points), and they went ahead and made it 26 on Friday. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 58-55 win over J.H. Rose. Given Swansboro's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 32nd, while J.H. Rose is ranked 187th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Swansboro's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Tayvion Tangiora, who dropped a double-double on 17 points and 12 rebounds. Tangiora has been hot recently, having posted 16 or more points the last six times he's played. Jermaine Cunningham was another key contributor, scoring ten points along with two steals.
First Flight is on a roll lately: they've won 13 of their last 14 matchups, which provided a massive bump to their 18-10 record this season. As for Swansboro, their win bumped their record up to 27-1.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as the two teams are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. First Flight hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 66.8 points per game. However, it's not like Swansboro struggles in that department as they've been averaging 75.9 points per game. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
First Flight came up short against Swansboro in their previous meeting back in January, falling 67-60. Can First Flight avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
