Basketball Game Preview: DeSoto Central Jaguars vs. Southaven Chargers

DeSoto Central is 2-8 against Southaven since February of 2019 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The DeSoto Central Jaguars will challenge the Southaven Chargers at 7:30 p.m. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.

DeSoto Central is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Mississippi's top teams: Horn Lake, who was ranked 15th at the time (DeSoto Central was ranked 20th). DeSoto Central fell to Horn Lake 61-56.

Meanwhile, Southaven didn't have too much trouble with Hernando on Friday as they won 67-50. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Chargers.

DeSoto Central better keep an eye on Caden Johnson. He was instrumental in Southaven's win, dropping a double-double on 17 points and 11 rebounds. Those 11 boards gave Johnson a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Cameron Hammond, who went 5 of 9 on his way to 12 points and five rebounds.

Southaven is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last eight matches, which provided a nice bump to their 12-9 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 59.8 points per game. As for DeSoto Central, their defeat ended a nine-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 20-7.

Everything went DeSoto Central's way against Southaven in their previous meeting back in December of 2024, as DeSoto Central made off with an 84-58 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for DeSoto Central since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.