Basketball Game Preview: Southport Cardinals vs. Columbus North Bull Dogs

The Southport Cardinals will challenge the Columbus North Bull Dogs at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Southport is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 57.2 points per game this season.

Southport easily dispatched Beech Grove on Wednesday, but unfortunately both the margin and the ultimate result were a different story in this one. Southport fell just short of Terre Haute North Vigo by a score of 58-56 on Saturday. While losing is never fun, the Cardinals can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 63rd, while the Patriots are ranked 14th).

The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Malik Sims, who posted eight points. Another player making a difference was Chanan Glenn, who scored 11 points.

Even though they lost, Southport was working as a unit and finished the game with 13 assists. That's the most assists they've posted since back in February of 2024.

Meanwhile, Columbus North waltzed into their game on Saturday with two straight wins... but they left with three. They escaped with a win against the Falcons by the margin of a single free throw, 54-53. The score was all tied up 22-22 at the break, but the Bull Dogs were the better team in the second half.

Columbus North is also on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six contests, which provided a nice bump to their 10-3 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 59.8 points per game. As for Southport, their defeat ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 8-6.

Southport took their win against Columbus North in their previous meeting back in February of 2024 by a conclusive 68-46. The rematch might be a little tougher for Southport since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.