Hendersonville is 10-0 against Brevard since January of 2020, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Tuesday. The Hendersonville Bearcats will head out on the road to take on the Brevard Blue Devils at 8:00 p.m. Hendersonville knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with flashy point totals in its past five matches -- so hopefully Brevard likes a good challenge.
Winning is just a little bit easier when your three-point shooting is a whole 25% better than the opposition, a fact Hendersonville proved on Tuesday. They took down East Rutherford 71-54. Given Hendersonville's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 137th, while East Rutherford is ranked 290th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Malachi Simpson and Cj Landrum were among the main playmakers for Hendersonville as the former scored 23 points along with eight rebounds and two steals and the latter dropped a double-double on 22 points and ten rebounds. Simpson is on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed two or more in the last five games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Coby Retana, who scored 11 points.
Meanwhile, after only two points in their last contest, Brevard made sure to put some points up on the board against Patton on Friday. Brevard managed a 70-65 victory over Patton. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Brevard.
Brevard's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Tre Crite, who scored 24 points along with seven rebounds. Crite hasn't dropped below 17 points for three straight games. Baker Buchanan was another key contributor, scoring 28 points along with two steals.
Brevard's lineup was just a bit different on Friday as Grant Buchanan got a bit more time on the court (18 vs. his season average of 8.5). Buchanan made the most of the opportunity, scoring three points. A few more games like that and he might be seeing even more time going forward.
Hendersonville has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six matches, which provided a nice bump to their 15-6 record this season. As for Brevard, their win was their sixth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 13-9.
Tuesday's contest will pit two of the most dominant forwards against one another: Simpson and Crite. Simpson has been dynamite this season: he has averaged 21.8 points, 3.1 steals, and 1.1 blocks. For his part, Crite has averaged 23.2 points, 2 steals, and 9.2 rebounds.
Hendersonville didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Brevard in their previous meeting back in January, but they still walked away with a 54-49 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Hendersonville since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
