Basketball Game Preview: Bedford Bearcats vs. Glenville Tarblooders

Two dominant forwards in Terrell Pollard and Xavier Vickerstaff are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Bedford Bearcats will look to defend their home court on Saturday against the Glenville Tarblooders at 2:00 p.m. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both will really light up the scoreboard.

Bedford is probably headed into the game with a chip on their shoulder considering Garfield Heights just ended the team's six-game winning streak on Thursday. They took a 65-56 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Bulldogs. While losing is never fun, the Bearcats can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 92nd, while the Bulldogs are ranked eighth).

Despite the defeat, Bedford had strong showings from Pollard, who dropped a double-double on 28 points and 12 rebounds, and Kevin Woodgett III, who went 7 of 10 on his way to 19 points and five assists. The dominant performance gave Pollard a new career-high in points. The team also got some help courtesy of Jaivon Hudson, who posted three points and five assists.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Glenville). They blew past Garrett Morgan 98-54 on Friday. The victory was familiar territory for the Tarblooders who have now won four contests in a row.

Glenville pushed their record up to 11-3 with the win, which was their fourth straight on the road. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 30.5 points. As for Bedford, their loss ended a six-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 9-4.

Bedford came up short against Glenville in their previous matchup back in December of 2016, falling 66-55. Can Bedford avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.