Harrisburg hopes to take third tilt from Tigers

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Harrisburg High School boys basketball team has got to be hoping the third time is not the charm for the Herrin Tigers.

But more than hope, the Bulldogs have an edge in Friday night's match-up against visiting Herrin, having already beaten the Tigers in their home gym and on a neutral court at the Eldorado Holiday Tournament.

And while Herrin will be without 6-foot-9-inch center Alex Brown and guard Jo Jo Hart, who were suspended in early January, Harrisburg head coach Randy Smithpeters said the Tigers are still a dangerous group.

"It is a different look, but they're using more people, which makes it difficult to prepare," Smithpeters said. "They have a bigger range of scorers. There seem to be a lot of nights where different guys are their leading scorers, so you can't pinpoint one guy."

Without two of its leading players from their first two meetings, the Tigers still have DeMarlo Harris and David Mallow, who proved in the first two meetings that they can do a bulk of damage even when Hart and Brown were ineffective.

The Bulldogs enter the match-up with an 18-6 record, having already matched their win total from last year's 18-11 team. Harrisburg is two victories shy of the 20-win plateau and could reach the mark as early as Saturday with a win against Herrin tonight and one against Cairo on Saturday in the Benton Shootout.

HHS will look to build on the momentum from Monday's win at Massac County, an achievement that had not been reached in eight years.

"Remember what got you where you are. It's all about the little things," Smithpeters said. "It's not that it's magic or anything. it's a group of guys that have worked hard that have kept their heads screwed on right. Just play hard and try to be tougher than your opponent. That's what we've been successful with this season."