Basketball Game Preview: Hopedale Blue Raiders vs. Leicester Wolverines

The Hopedale Blue Raiders will challenge the Leicester Wolverines at 12:45 p.m. on Saturday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.

Leicester will be up against a hot Hopedale team: the squad just extended their winning streak to three. Hopedale strolled past Maynard with points to spare on Thursday, taking the game 70-51. Given the Blue Raiders' advantage in MaxPreps' Massachusetts basketball rankings (they are ranked 78th, while the Tigers are ranked 246th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Leicester). They took down Douglas 67-52 on Friday. The win continues a trend for the Wolverines in their matchups with the Tigers: they've now won six in a row.

Hopedale's victory was their fifth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 16-2. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 62.6 points over those games. As for Leicester, their win bumped their record up to 8-10.

Hopedale was able to grind out a solid victory over Leicester when the teams last played back in February of 2022, winning 58-45. The rematch might be a little tougher for Hopedale since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.