Basketball Game Preview: South Florence Bruins vs. Hartsville Red Foxes

The South Florence Bruins will face off against the Hartsville Red Foxes at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. South Florence will be strutting in after a victory while Hartsville will be coming in after a loss.

South Florence is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They blew past Lower Richland 82-46 on Tuesday. Given the Bruins' advantage in MaxPreps' South Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 50th, while the Diamond Hornets are ranked 169th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, Hartsville was not able to break out of their rough patch on Tuesday as the team picked up their sixth straight defeat. They took a blow against Lakewood, falling 72-43.

Loss or not, Hartsville got some senior leadership from EJ Smith and Casey Hawkins. Smith posted nine points and six rebounds, while Hawkins had four points. The team also got some help courtesy of Tristian Spann, who earned seven points.

Even though they lost, Hartsville smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive boards. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Lakewood only pulled down seven offensive rebounds.

Hartsville's defeat dropped their record down to 6-17. As for South Florence, their win bumped their record up to 13-10.

South Florence beat Hartsville 72-61 when the teams last played back in January. Will South Florence repeat their success, or does Hartsville have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.