Basketball Game Preview: Highland Cougars vs. Macon Tigers

A feisty cat fight will be fought when the Cougars duke it out with the Tigers at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Having both just faced considerable losses, both teams are looking to turn things around.

Highland is coming in off a wild two-game stretch: after soaring to 62 points last Monday, they were much more limited against Centralia on Friday. They were outmatched by the Panthers and fell 51-24. The game marked the Cougars' lowest-scoring contest so far this season.

Meanwhile, Macon came up short against South Shelby on Tuesday, falling 60-36. While losing is never fun, the Tigers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Missouri basketball rankings (they are ranked 327th, while the Cardinals are ranked 18th).

Highland's loss ended a nine-game streak of away wins and brought them to 24-3. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 51.2 points over those games. As for Macon, they have been struggling recently as they've lost eight of their last ten matchups, which has put a noticeable dent in their 7-16 record this season.

Highland didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Macon when the teams last played back in February of 2024, but they still walked away with a 37-32 win. Will Highland repeat their success, or does Macon have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.