The Tuscola Mountaineers will head out on the road to challenge the Pisgah Bears at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Both teams have had a bumpy ride up to this point with four consecutive losses for Tuscola and three for the Bears.
Last Friday, Tuscola lost to the Eagles at home by a decisive 63-48 margin. The defeat unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for Tuscola in their matchups with the Eagles: they've now lost six in a row.
The losing side was boosted by Jed West, who scored 20 points. That was a full 41.7% of Tuscola's points, marking the fourth time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Jeremy Horton was another key contributor, scoring nine points along with eight rebounds.
Meanwhile, Pisgah pushed their score all the way to 63 on Friday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They fell 71-63 to West Henderson. While losing is never fun, Pisgah can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 253rd, while the Falcons are ranked 122nd).
Tuscola's defeat was their 19th straight at home dating back to last season, which dropped their record down to 1-16. That rough patch can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 50.7 points per game. As for Pisgah, they have not been sharp recently as the team's lost four of their last five contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 11-9 record this season.
Tuscola ended up a good deal behind the Bears in their previous meeting back in January, losing 66-52. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Pisgah's Sawyer Belue, who scored 24 points along with two steals. Now that Tuscola knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
