Coming off its second loss in area play last Friday night, Straughn will try and get a win tonight as its hosts Luverne.

Straughn (8-10, 0-2 in Class 3A, Area 3) lost to Central-Hayneville last week 60-53 after missing free throws and giving away turnovers.

Straughn coach Todd Reynolds said his team will keep the pressure up during the game to force turnovers.

“Luverne’s pretty big inside,” Reynolds said. “They’ve got some quality size and they have decent guard play. It’ll come down to see whose style will stand the test of time in this game.

“We’ll try to keep pressure on them and try to get some turnovers and such,” he said. “Our outside shooters will be important. If we can hit some outside shots, we should be all right. It’s going to be another tough game, so we’ll see if we can show that tenacity that we’ve had this last week and carry it on into this week.”

As far as strategy goes, Reynolds said getting open shots and finding the “hot hand” will be essential.

“With my adjusted lineup now I have three confident outside shooters out there,” he said. “So, in any given night one of them could be on and we just need to do a good job of getting them the ball.”

Attacking the box on the inside on offense will also be a part of Straughn’s strategy.

“I’ve talked to a couple of players about how we basically need them to look a little bit more into their drive opportunities,” Reynolds said. “Once you set the perimeter shooting up, teams begin to extend out a little bit to try to challenge that.

“We’re still going to be a little thin inside and that means that my seniors are going to have to step it up and carry it through.”

Tip off tonight is at 4:30 p.m. with the B-team.