Basketball Game Preview: South Shore International Tars vs. EPIC Academy Legends

The South Shore International Tars will take on the EPIC Academy Legends in a tournament on Monday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (South Shore International has seven straight victories, EPIC Academy has nine straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the court.

Last Thursday, South Shore International earned a 56-44 win over Noble Street College Prep.

Meanwhile, EPIC Academy was beaten by Bishop McNamara 85-42 on Friday. While losing is never fun, the Legends can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 743rd, while the Fightin' Irish are ranked 193rd).

South Shore International will need to focus on slowing down Cameron Kelly, one of several EPIC Academy players who made an impact when they last played. He posted 20 points. Those 20 points gave Kelly a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Ayomide Olantuji, who had 13 points.

South Shore International's victory was their seventh straight at home, which pushed their record up to 14-16. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 31.3 points. As for EPIC Academy, their loss dropped their record down to 1-13.

South Shore International took their win against EPIC Academy when the teams last played back in January by a conclusive 44-21. Will South Shore International repeat their success, or does EPIC Academy have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.