The Hickory Hornets will square off against the Mercer Mustangs at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Hickory will be strutting in after a victory while Mercer will be coming in after a loss.
Hickory is headed into the contest after thoroughly thrashing Grove City: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Hickory blew Grove City out of the water with a 71-35 final score. The Hornets have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won six games by 21 points or more this season.
Meanwhile, Mercer was not able to break out of their rough patch on Thursday as the team picked up their fourth straight defeat. They took a hard 58-42 fall against Grove City. While losing is never fun, the Mustangs can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania basketball rankings (they are ranked 294th, while the Eagles are ranked 55th).
Hickory pushed their record up to 11-4 with the win, which was their third straight at home. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 70.7 points per game. As for Mercer, their loss dropped their record down to 11-5.
Everything went Hickory's way against Mercer in their previous meeting two weeks ago, as Hickory made off with a 68-47 victory. Will Hickory repeat their success, or does Mercer have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
