The South Point Red Raiders will venture away from home to square off against the Huss Huskies at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
South Point is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They simply couldn't be stopped on Tuesday as they easily beat Stuart W. Cramer 96-61. Given the Red Raiders' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 212th, while the Storm are ranked 453rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
South Point relied on the efforts of Jaishawn Woods, who went 17 for 29 on his way to 39 points and five steals, and OB Lowery Jr., who posted 27 points and four steals. That makes it four consecutive games in which Woods has scored at least a third of South Point's points. Another player making a difference was Aidan Taylor, who had eight points and nine boards.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Huss, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Friday. They took down Kings Mountain 81-63 on Tuesday.
South Point better focus on containing Jaleel Smith and Zaiyir 'Zii' Phillips as the pair were huge in Huss' win. Smith almost dropped a double-double on 27 points and nine steals, while Phillips shot 5-for-7 from downtown and dropped a double-double on 21 points and ten assists. Smith is crushing it when it comes to steals: he's grabbed at least two every time he's taken the court this season. Fred Nelson was another key player, putting up 12 points.
Huss smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with ten offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least nine offensive boards in seven consecutive matchups.
Huss' win was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 13-6. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 82.3 points per game. As for South Point, the victory made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 12-9.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: South Point has been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 26 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Huss struggles in that department as they've been averaging 29.7 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
South Point came up short against Huss in their previous meeting back in January, falling 63-55. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Phillips, who went 9 of 17 en route to 26 points and five rebounds. Now that South Point knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
