The Petal Panthers will head out on the road to face off against the Brandon Bulldogs at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Petal has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the matchup with three straight defeats, while Brandon will come in with six straight victories.
Petal might be feeling deja-vu: they lost 66-44 to Pearl, which was the same score (and result) they got the week prior. While losing is never fun, the Panthers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Mississippi basketball rankings (they are ranked 139th, while the Pirates are ranked 28th).
Meanwhile, even if it wasn't a dominant performance, Brandon beat Meridian 57-52 on Friday.
Petal better keep an eye on Braylon Barnes. He was instrumental in Brandon's win, going 7 for 13 on his way to 23 points. Barnes' evening made it seven games in a row in which he has scored at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Braelyn Bailey, who posted nine points and five rebounds.
Brandon has been performing well recently as they've won nine of their last 11 games, which provided a nice bump to their 12-9 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 57.4 points per game. As for Petal, their loss dropped their record down to 8-15.
Petal came up short against Brandon in their previous matchup back in December of 2024, falling 61-50. Can Petal avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
