Two dominant guards in Jake Harper and Kellen Layne are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Chincoteague Ponies will head out on the road to square off against the Middlesex Chargers at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The squads are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Chincoteague has struggled recently with seven defeats in a row, while Middlesex will arrive with seven straight wins.
Chincoteague pushed their score all the way to 65 last Tuesday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They took a 76-65 hit to the loss column at the hands of Nandua. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on February 1st (61), Chincoteague still had to take the loss.
Despite the loss, Chincoteague got a solid performance out of Harper, who scored 27 points along with five assists and two steals. Austin Adams was another key contributor, scoring 11 points along with eight rebounds.
Meanwhile, even if it wasn't a dominant performance, Middlesex beat Nandua 49-45 on Monday.
Middlesex's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from JaQuan Griffin, who dropped a double-double on 21 points and 11 rebounds. Griffin hasn't dropped below two steals for six straight games. The team also got some help courtesy of Malik Dandy, who dropped a double-double on 13 points and 14 rebounds.
Chincoteague has been struggling recently as they've lost eight of their last ten games, which put a noticeable dent in their 5-10 record this season. As for Middlesex, their victory was their fifth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 16-4.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Chincoteague have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 31.7 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Middlesex struggles in that department as they've been averaging 28.6 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Chincoteague suffered a grim 72-49 defeat to Middlesex in their previous matchup back in December of 2023. Can Chincoteague 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
