The DeKalb County Tigers will head out on the road to take on the Stone Memorial Panthers at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. The teams are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: DeKalb County has struggled recently with five defeats in a row, while Stone Memorial will arrive with five straight wins.
Last Friday, DeKalb County had to suffer through a rough 75-41 loss at the hands of Upperman. While losing is never fun, DeKalb County can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Tennessee basketball rankings (they are ranked 228th, while Upperman is ranked 34th).
Meanwhile, Stone Memorial put the finishing touches on their tenth blowout victory of the season on Tuesday. They were the clear victor by a 82-61 margin over Clarkrange. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
Cade Capps was his usual excellent self, almost dropping a double-double on 38 points and nine rebounds. He hasn't dropped below 15 points for 24 straight games. Braiden Elliott was another key contributor, dropping a double-double on 12 points and 11 rebounds.
DeKalb County has not been sharp recently as the team's lost six of their last seven contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 9-12 record this season. As for Stone Memorial, their win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 18-8.
DeKalb County came up short against Stone Memorial in their previous meeting two weeks ago, falling 68-57. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Capps, who scored 42 points along with eight rebounds and two steals. Now that DeKalb County knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
