Basketball Game Preview: Ball Tornadoes vs. La Porte Bulldogs

The Ball Tornadoes will venture away from home to face off against the La Porte Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Ball is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 51.8 points per game this season.

Ball is headed out in good spirits considering the team just ended their winless streak on the road against Hitchcock on Tuesday. Ball narrowly escaped with a victory as the squad sidled past Hitchcock 46-43. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest win the Tornadoes have posted since December 1, 2023.

Taj Petteway continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, dropping a double-double on 15 points and ten boards. He has become a key player for Ball: the team is 3-1 when he posts at least eight rebounds, but 2-3 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of Logan Ashcraft, who posted two points and five rebounds.

Meanwhile, La Porte came tearing into Saturday's contest with five straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 23.6 points) and they left with even more momentum. They put the hurt on the Panthers with a sharp 98-72 victory. The Bulldogs' offense stepped up their game for this one, as that was the most points they've scored all season.

La Porte is on a roll lately: they've won ten of their last 12 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 12-5 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 69.8 points per game. As for Ball, they now have a winning record of 5-4.

Ball didn't have too much breathing room in their game against La Porte in their previous matchup back in February, but they still walked away with a 60-55 win. Will Ball repeat their success, or does La Porte have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.