The J.L. Mann Patriots will head out on the road to take on the Mauldin Mavericks at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. J.L. Mann knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with flashy point totals in its past six matchups -- so hopefully the Mavericks likes a good challenge.
Even though Woodmont scored an imposing 67 points on Friday, J.L. Mann still came out on top. J.L. Mann snuck past the Wildcats with a 73-67 victory. The win was all the more spectacular given J.L. Mann's disadvantage in MaxPreps' South Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 98th, while the Wildcats are ranked 31st).
It was another big night for Jeremy Cook, who scored 24 points along with seven assists and five rebounds. He is on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed two or more in the last seven games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Thomas Davidson, who scored nine points along with six rebounds and three steals.
Meanwhile, Mauldin had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 6.7 points), and they went ahead and made it four on Friday. They came out on top against T.L. Hanna by a score of 74-63. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Mauldin to victory, but perhaps none more so than Alverez Smith, who scored 19 points along with six rebounds. Smith is trending in the right direction, as he's improved his point production for three games straight. Braden Hershberger was another key contributor, dropping a double-double on 12 points and ten rebounds.
J.L. Mann is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four matches, which provided a massive bump to their 8-14 record this season. As for Mauldin, they now have a winning record of 11-10.
J.L. Mann came up short against the Mavericks in their previous meeting on January 16th, falling 73-60. Can J.L. Mann avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
