Basketball Game Preview: Cabell Midland Knights vs. Belfry Pirates

Two dominant guards in Ethan Blackburn and Brody Little are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Cabell Midland Knights will be playing at home against the Belfry Pirates at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. Cabell Midland is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 61.4 points per game this season.

Last Tuesday, Cabell Midland ended up a good deal behind South Charleston and lost 59-44. The Knights have struggled against the Black Eagles recently, as the game was their fourth consecutive lost matchup.

Despite the loss, Cabell Midland saw an underclassman step up: freshman Ayden Spence posted seven points and four steals. Those four steals set a new season-high mark for Spence. The team also got some help courtesy of Aidan Ray, who scored nine points and seven boards.

Meanwhile, Belfry was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap on Tuesday as they fell 67-63 to Phelps. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game two weeks ago (62), the Pirates still had to take the loss.

Cabell Midland will need focus on slowing down Jaxon Estridge, one of several Belfry players who made an impact when they last played. He went 7 for 16 en route to 23 points and five rebounds. Another player making a difference was Little, who went 6 of 9 on his way to 15 points.

Cabell Midland's defeat dropped their record down to 4-4. As for Belfry, their loss was their fourth straight on the road, which dropped their record down to 6-9.

Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as both are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Cabell Midland hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 61.4 points per game. However, it's not like Belfry struggles in that department as they've been averaging 63.1 points. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.

Cabell Midland strolled past Belfry in their previous meeting back in January of 2024 by a score of 65-49. Does Cabell Midland have another victory up their sleeve, or will Belfry turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.