The Middle Creek Mustangs will head out on the road to face off against the Green Hope Falcons at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Hopefully Middle Creek focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 15 on Thursday.
Last Thursday, it was a hard-fought contest, but Middle Creek had to settle for a 55-52 defeat against Garner. The defeat unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for Middle Creek in their matchups with Garner: they've now lost three in a row.
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the most dominant came from Yasir Hall, who scored 18 points along with 7 rebounds. The matchup was his fourth in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Brandon Ihle, who scored 12 points along with 8 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Green Hope pushed their score all the way to 60 on Friday, but even that wasn't enough to win. The match between Green Hope and Leesville Road wasn't particularly close, with Green Hope falling 79-60. Even though they lost, Green Hope's still made a splash on offense and bumped their average scoring up to 50.2 points per game (they're now ranked -1th in scoring overall).
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Rafik Khismatov, who dropped a double-double on 12 points and 11 rebounds. Khismatov is absolutely dominating the rebound category: he's posted at least eight every time he's taken the court this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Nikhil Ranga, who scored 16 points.
Middle Creek's victory lifted them to 2-4 while Garner's defeat dropped them down to 2-2.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Middle Creek have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 27 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Green Hope struggles in that department as they've been even better at 27.3 per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out. Come back here after the game to get analysis of the match and other basketball content.
Middle Creek took their win against Green Hope in their previous matchup back in January by a conclusive 76-50. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Green Hope's Walker Hamilton, who scored 19 points along with 3 steals. Now that he won't be playing on Tuesday, will it be that much easier for Middle Creek to walk away with another win? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
