Basketball Preview: Long Beach Bearcats vs. Perry Central Bulldogs
After two games on the road, Long Beach is heading back home. They will take on the Perry Central Bulldogs at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. Long Beach has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last four games.
Last Tuesday, Long Beach came up short against the Rebels and fell 59-51.
Even though Perry Central has not done well against the Rock-a-Chaws recently (they were 0-5 in their previous five matchups), they didn't let the past get in their way on Monday. Perry Central slipped by the Rock-a-Chaws 40-39. The win made it back-to-back wins for Perry Central.
Perry Central can attribute much of their success to Austin Jones, who scored ten points along with eight assists and six rebounds, and Kaden Bolton, who dropped a double-double on 22 points and 16 rebounds. That makes it 13 consecutive games in which Bolton has scored at least a third of Perry Central's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Auston Dantzler, who scored two points along with five rebounds and two steals.
Long Beach has not been sharp recently as the team's lost 14 of their last 16 contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 4-22 record this season. As for Perry Central, their win bumped their record up to 12-9.
Long Beach came up short against the Bulldogs when the teams last played back in November of 2023, falling 75-64. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Bolton, who dropped a double-double on 23 points and 17 rebounds. Now that Long Beach knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
