Basketball Game Preview: Martinsville Artesians vs. Bloomington South Panthers

Martinsville is 1-9 against Bloomington South since January of 2017 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Saturday. Both will face off at 7:30 p.m. without much rest having both just played. The two teams each escaped (but just barely!) with wins against their previous opponents.

Having struggled with four losses in a row, Martinsville turned things around against Perry Meridian on Friday. They came out on top in a nail-biter against the Falcons, sneaking past 53-50.

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Martinsville to victory, but perhaps none more so than Grady Gardner, who went 8 of 15 on his way to 21 points. That makes it five consecutive games in which Gardner has scored at least a third of Martinsville's points. Hunter Stroud was another key player, going 6 for 13 en route to 14 points and six rebounds.

Martinsville 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 ten offensive rebounds in four consecutive matches.

Meanwhile, Bloomington South had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 13.7 points) and they went ahead and made it four on Friday. They skirted past the Knights 53-50. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest win the Panthers have posted since February 19, 2024.

Martinsville's victory was their first in the conference, bumping their conference record up to 1-3 and their overall record up to 4-9. As for Bloomington South, they are on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven games, which provided a massive bump to their 11-6 record this season.

Martinsville didn't have too much breathing room in their contest against Bloomington South in their previous matchup back in March of 2024, but they still walked away with a 65-61 win. Does Martinsville have another victory up their sleeve, or will Bloomington South turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.