The Newberry Panthers are on the road again on Thursday and plays the Hilliard Red Flashes at 7:00 p.m. on February 15th. Newberry has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last three games.
It's hard to turn regular season success into postseason wins, a fact Newberry can now relate to. They fell just short of the Hornets by a score of 76-74. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on Thursday (69), Newberry still had to take the loss.
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Henry Mathias, who scored 22 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Kaleb Woods, who scored 16 points.
Meanwhile, Hilliard came tearing into Saturday's matchup with 14 straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 24.6 points) and they left with even more momentum. They were the clear victor by a 66-40 margin over Madison County. Hilliard has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 13 matchups by 20 points or more this season.
Hilliard's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Kevin Thomas, who almost dropped a double-double on 24 rebounds and nine blocks. Thomas hasn't dropped below ten rebounds for four straight games. CJ Hall was another key contributor, scoring 21 points along with six rebounds and three blocks.
Newberry's loss dropped their record down to 15-8. As for Hilliard, they are on a roll lately: they've won 17 of their last 18 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 22-2 record this season.
Newberry couldn't quite finish off Hilliard in their previous meeting back in December of 2023 and fell 63-61. Can Newberry avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
