Cottondale and Malone are an even 5-5 against one another since November of 2020, but not for long. The Cottondale Hornets will face off against the Malone Tigers at 7:30 p.m. on Monday. Cottondale has been dominant on offense recently, having racked up an incredible 200 points over their last three matches.
Cottondale is probably headed into the contest with a chip on their shoulder considering Marianna just ended the team's three-game winning streak on Thursday. They lost 89-65 to the Bulldogs. While losing is never fun, the Hornets can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 408th, while the Bulldogs are ranked 90th).
Meanwhile, Malone was fully in charge on Thursday, breezing past Northside Methodist Academy 68-37. The Tigers pushed the score to 56-22 by the end of the third, a deficit the Knights cut but never quite recovered from.
Malone's win came from a few key players Cottondale will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Lonnie Gilbert, who went 9 of 14 on his way to 20 points and five rebounds. Those 20 points gave him a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Jamerious Sims, who posted ten points in addition to six assists and six boards.
Malone pushed their record up to 16-7 with the win, which was their third straight on the road. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 61.3 points per game. As for Cottondale, their loss ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 12-9.
Cottondale strolled past Malone when the teams last played back in December of 2024 by a score of 50-34. The rematch might be a little tougher for Cottondale since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
