The Emerald Vikings will face off against the Laurens Raiders at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Emerald is coming into the contest on a four-game losing streak.
Emerald is headed into the game out to prove that what happened against Fountain Inn on Tuesday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Emerald lost 71-48 to Fountain Inn. The Vikings were down 55-30 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from.
Meanwhile, Laurens was able to grind out a solid win over Clinton on Wednesday, taking the game 69-57. Given the Raiders' advantage in MaxPreps' South Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 30th, while the Red Devils are ranked 136th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Emerald better keep an eye on Tyj Narrius Jones. He was instrumental in Laurens' win, going 11 for 19 on his way to 25 points in addition to six steals and five rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of William Thompson, who went 7 of 10 en route to 14 points and eight boards.
Laurens 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 eight offensive boards in nine consecutive matches.
Laurens has been performing well recently as they've won ten of their last 12 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 11-5 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 60.8 points per game. As for Emerald, their loss dropped their record down to 6-10.
Emerald suffered a grim 57-37 defeat to Laurens in their previous matchup back in December of 2023. Can Emerald avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
