The Newberry Bulldogs will head out on the road to face off against the Ninety Six Wildcats at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Newberry has six straight victories, Ninety Six has three straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Even though Newberry has not done well against Abbeville recently (they were 0-3 in their previous three matchups), they didn't let the past get in their way on Tuesday. Newberry came out on top against Abbeville by a score of 82-73. Having run the score up that high, both teams probably have some extra defensive drills coming up.
Meanwhile, Ninety Six fought the good fight in their overtime matchup against Saluda on Friday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They took a 42-38 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Tigers. Ninety Six has not had much luck with Saluda recently, as the team's come up short the last two times they've met.
Newberry's victory was their sixth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 11-9. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 65.7 points per game. As for Ninety Six, they have not been sharp recently, as they've lost six of their last seven games, which put a noticeable dent in their 3-11 record this season.
Newberry didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Ninety Six in their previous matchup on January 10th, but they still walked away with a 56-50 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for Newberry since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
