The Hilliard Red Flashes will be staying on the road on Thursday to face off against the Newberry Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on February 15th. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the pair posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Two teams were on the hunt for playoff glory, but only Hilliard walked away with it. They blew past the Cowboys 66-40. Hilliard has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 13 matches by 20 points or more this season.
Hilliard's win on Saturday was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Kevin Thomas, who almost dropped a double-double on 24 rebounds and nine blocks. Thomas hasn't dropped below ten rebounds for four straight games. CJ Hall was another key contributor, scoring 21 points along with six rebounds and three blocks.
Meanwhile, Newberry fought the good fight in their overtime match against Hawthorne on Saturday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell just short of the Hornets by a score of 76-74. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on Thursday (69), Newberry still had to take the loss.
Despite their loss, Newberry saw several players rise to the challenge and make noteworthy plays. Henry Mathias, who scored 22 points, was perhaps the best of all. Another player making a difference was Kaleb Woods, who scored 16 points.
Hilliard is on a roll lately: they've won 17 of their last 18 games, which provided a nice bump to their 22-2 record this season. As for Newberry, their loss dropped their record down to 15-8.
Hilliard skirted past Newberry 63-61 when the teams last played back in December of 2023. Will Hilliard repeat their success, or does Newberry have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
