Preview: Harrisonburg Bulldogs vs. Avoyelles Charter Vikings
Harrisonburg is 0-7 against Avoyelles Charter since January of 2015 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The Harrisonburg Bulldogs will head out on the road to take on the Avoyelles Charter Vikings at 5:30 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Harrisonburg posted their biggest victory since December 7, 2023 on Friday. They blew past Grace Christian 74-51. The win made it back-to-back wins for Harrisonburg.
It was another big night for Ryan Fuqua, who scored 32 points along with six steals and five rebounds. That makes it three consecutive games in which he has scored at least a third of Harrisonburg's points. Another player making a difference was Braxton Nowlin, who scored 14 points along with six rebounds and five steals.
Meanwhile, Avoyelles Charter had already won five in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 27.6 points), and they went ahead and made it six on Thursday. They put the hurt on Rapides with a sharp 64-39 victory. Winning is a bit easier when your three-point shooting is a whole 21% better than the opposition, as Avoyelles Charter's was.
Avoyelles Charter can attribute much of their success to Armonii Benjamin, who scored 22 points along with seven rebounds, and Jalen Brown, who scored 26 points along with six rebounds and three steals. Brown is on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed two or more in the last six games he's played. Karlon Williams was another key contributor, scoring six points.
Harrisonburg is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 10-9 record this season. As for Avoyelles Charter, their victory was their 13th straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 15-7.
Tuesday's match will pit two of the most dominant guards against one another: Fuqua and Brown. Fuqua has been dynamite this season: he has averaged 16.7 points, 2.9 steals, and 4.2 rebounds. For his part, Brown has averaged 22 points, 3.5 steals, and 3 assists.
Harrisonburg was dealt a bruising 59-20 defeat at the hands of Avoyelles Charter when the teams last played back in February of 2023. Can Harrisonburg avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
