Basketball Game Preview: Wharton Tigers vs. Columbia Roughnecks

Wharton is 9-1 against Columbia since December of 2014 and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The Wharton Tigers will look to defend their home court against the Columbia Roughnecks at 7:00 p.m. The two teams have had a bumpy ride up to this point with three consecutive losses apiece.

Wharton managed to keep up with La Marque until halftime on Tuesday, but things quickly went downhill from there. Wharton might have been a little too into the holiday spirit, gifting La Marque an easy 54-31 victory. While losing is never fun, the Tigers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Texas basketball rankings (they are ranked 556th, while the Cougars are ranked 83rd).

Wharton's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Jameir Hearne-Robinson, who posted 11 points along with five boards and four steals, and Keilon Jackson, who went 5 of 10 on his way to 10 points and four steals. The dominant performance also gave Hearne-Robinson a new career-high in blocks (two).

Meanwhile, Columbia was just a bucket shy of victory on Tuesday and fell 65-64 to Brazosport.

Wharton's defeat ended a four-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 13-5. As for Columbia, their loss dropped their record down to 6-10.

Wharton barely slipped by Columbia in their previous meeting back in December of 2023, winning 51-50. Will Wharton repeat their success, or does Columbia have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.