Douglas Byrd hasn't had much luck against South View recently, but that could start to change on Tuesday. The Douglas Byrd Eagles will host the South View Tigers at 7:30 p.m. Douglas Byrd is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 51.6 points per game this season.
Douglas Byrd is headed into Tuesday's contest looking for a big change in momentum after dropping their eighth straight game last Friday. They lost 57-31 to Purnell Swett.
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Robeon Nowell-Smalls, who posted four points in addition to ten rebounds and three steals. Another player making a difference was Quntine Alexis, who scored six points.
Even though they lost, Douglas Byrd smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 11 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least nine offensive rebounds in three consecutive matches.
Meanwhile, South View had already won six in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 22.8 points) and they went ahead and made it seven on Saturday. They managed a 62-58 victory over the Eagles. Given the Tigers' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 175th, while the Eagles are ranked 422nd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
South View's win came from a few key players Douglas Byrd will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Yabniel Cheveres, who put up 11 points along with five boards and three steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Darin Word, who had ten points and six rebounds.
South View is on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine games, which provided a massive bump to their 10-6 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 68.3 points per game. As for Douglas Byrd, their defeat dropped their record down to 4-9.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Douglas Byrd has been crashing the boards this season, having averaged 30.5 rebounds per game. However, it's not like South View struggles in that department as they've been averaging 32.6 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Douglas Byrd was taken down by South View 72-36 in their previous matchup on January 3rd. That contest was all but decided by halftime, at which point Douglas Byrd was down 54-23.
