The Mathews Blue Devils will be playing at home against the Middlesex Chargers at 7:45 p.m. on Friday. Mathews is coming into the contest on a three-game losing streak.
Last Tuesday, Mathews came up short against West Point and fell 52-45.
Meanwhile, Middlesex put the finishing touches on their seventh blowout victory of the season on Tuesday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat King & Queen Central 78-41 at home. Given Middlesex's advantage in MaxPreps' Virginia basketball rankings (they are ranked 216th, while King & Queen Central is ranked 435th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
It was another big night for Kellen Layne, who scored 16 points along with seven assists and five rebounds. He has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last three times he's played. Another player making a difference was Cameron Lambert, who scored 15 points.
Mathews has been struggling recently, as they've lost five of their last six contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 3-13 record this season. As for Middlesex, they are on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six games, which provided a nice bump to their 10-4 record this season.
Mathews was taken down by Middlesex 79-49 when the teams last played on January 3rd. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Layne, who scored 26 points along with five rebounds and two steals. Now that Mathews knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
