Basketball Game Preview: Orange Panthers vs. Reidsville Rams

Two dominant guards in Kai Wade and Dionte Neal are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Orange Panthers will challenge the Reidsville Rams at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday. Both teams are coming into the game red-hot, with Orange sitting on four straight victories and Reidsville on 42 (dating back to last season).

Orange will head into Tuesday's match hoping to keep the good times rolling: they had to skate by with only a two-point margin when they last took the court, which might have inspired the 40-point drubbing they dealt Southern Alamance on Tuesday. Orange blew past Southern Alamance, posting a 76-36 win. Given the Panthers' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 97th, while the Patriots are ranked 482nd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Wade continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, going 8 for 13 en route to 20 points along with six assists and five steals. He has been hot for a while, having posted two or more steals the last ten times he's played. Jalen Crayton was another key player, as he made all 6 shots he took racking up 12 points and eight rebounds.

They weren't the only one working in the assists department: Orange was working as a unit and finished the game with 16 assists. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their assist total in four consecutive contests.

Meanwhile, you're bound to get a positive result if you outscore your opponent every quarter, and that's exactly how it played out for Reidsville on Friday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that they blew Morehead out of the water with a 94-58 final score. The Rams have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won eight games by 20 points or more this season.

Reidsville pushed their record up to 13-0 with the victory, which was their 20th straight at home dating back to last season. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 32.4 points. As for Orange, they have been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 13-4 record this season.