Preview: Douglas Tigers vs. Hopedale Blue Raiders
Douglas is 1-9 against Hopedale since December of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Douglas Tigers' road trip will continue as they head out to face the Hopedale Blue Raiders at 6:30 p.m. on January 26th. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.
On Tuesday, Douglas was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap as they fell 44-39 to Whitinsville Christian. The loss was a bit of a surprise, as Douglas came into the game with a sizable advantage in MaxPreps' Massachusetts basketball rankings (they are ranked 78th, while Whitinsville Christian is ranked 245th).
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the most dominant came from Isaac Gosselin, who scored 14 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Owen Gray, who scored 12 points.
Meanwhile, Hopedale unfortunately witnessed the end of their four-game winning streak on Tuesday. They were just a bucket shy of victory and fell 51-50 to Nipmuc Regional. Hopedale has not had much luck with Nipmuc Regional recently, as the team's come up short the last two times they've met.
Despite the loss, Hopedale got a solid performance out of Patrick Madden, who scored 25 points. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Madden has scored all season. Nathan Rutkowski was another key contributor, scoring seven points.
Douglas' defeat ended a four-game streak of away wins and brought them to 7-5. Hopedale's record now sits at 7-6.
Douglas didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Hopedale in their previous matchup on January 9th, but they still walked away with a 49-44 win. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Madden, who scored 20 points. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Douglas still be able to contain him? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
