Basketball Game Preview: Neshannock Lancers vs. Maplewood Tigers

The Neshannock Lancers will wrap up 2024 with a road trip to face off against the Maplewood Tigers at 2:30 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.

Neshannock is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They breezed by Armstrong to the tune of 67-29 on Saturday. Given the Lancers' advantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania basketball rankings (they are ranked 131st, while the River Hawks are ranked 450th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, Maplewood waltzed into their matchup on Friday with four straight wins... but they left with five. They claimed a resounding 55-24 victory over the Panthers. The contest was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point the Tigers had established a 26 point advantage.

Neshannock is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five games, which provided a nice bump to their 5-2 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 57.4 points per game. As for Maplewood, their win bumped their record up to 6-2.