Basketball Game Preview: Junction City Bluejays vs. Washburn Rural Blues

The Junction City Bluejays will face off against the Washburn Rural Blues at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.

On Tuesday, Junction City needed a bit of extra time to put away Emporia. They came out on top in a nail-biter against the Spartans, sneaking past 69-66. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest victory the Bluejays have posted since February 20, 2024.

Meanwhile, Washburn Rural took their match on Tuesday with ease, bagging a 74-45 win over Manhattan. Given the Blues' advantage in MaxPreps' Kansas basketball rankings (they are ranked 26th, while the Indians are ranked 136th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Washburn Rural's win came from a few key players Junction City will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was John Hoytal, who went 6-for-8 en route to 18 points. Those 18 points gave him a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Simon Rowley, who went 6-for-10 on his way to 14 points and seven rebounds.

Washburn Rural was working as a unit and finished the game with 24 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.

Washburn Rural's victory was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 11-4. A key ingredient in that success has been their performance when it comes to three-point shooting accuracy: their three-point shooting accuracy was 36.1% in those games and 27.2% outside of them. As for Junction City, their win bumped their record up to 10-5.

Junction City couldn't quite finish off Washburn Rural in their previous matchup two weeks ago and fell 59-56. Will Junction City have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more basketball content.