Daniel is on a five-game streak of home wins, while the Bulldogs are on a three-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. The Daniel Lions will take on the Pendleton Bulldogs at 8:00 p.m. on Friday. One thing working in Daniel's favor is that they have posted big point totals in their last six contests.
Daniel fought the good fight in their overtime match against the Bobcats on Tuesday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They took a 60-55 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Bobcats. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
Tristyn Carrington put forth a good effort for the losing side as he scored 19 points along with three steals. As a matter of fact, that's the most points he has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Simms Disbrow, who scored 14 points.
Meanwhile, Pendleton earned a 41-30 win over the Tigers on Tuesday. Given Pendleton's advantage in MaxPreps' South Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 128th, while the Tigers are ranked 285th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Pendleton can attribute much of their success to Garon Blalock, who scored 11 points along with six rebounds and four steals, and Kory Jones, who scored 14 points along with five rebounds and two steals. Jones hasn't dropped below two steals for three straight games. Anthony Scott was another key contributor, scoring five points along with three steals.
Daniel's defeat ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 17-7. As for Pendleton, they have been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six contests, which provided a nice bump to their 14-10 record this season.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Daniel have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 35.2 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Pendleton struggles in that department as they've been averaging 25.8 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Everything came up roses for Daniel against the Bulldogs in their previous matchup back in January as the squad secured a 75-34 victory. With Daniel ahead 39-8 at the half, the match was all but over already.
