Preview: Sparta Bulldogs vs. Chester Yellowjackets
Sparta is 1-9 against Chester since December of 2014 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The Sparta Bulldogs are on the road again and play against the Chester Yellowjackets at 7:30 p.m. on December 19th. Sparta knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with flashy point totals in its past four contests -- so hopefully Chester likes a good challenge.
On Saturday, Sparta was able to grind out a solid win over Valle Catholic, taking the game 60-51.
Sparta can attribute much of their success to Dariontez Monroe, who scored 17 points along with five rebounds, and Damian Lanton, who scored 23 points. The matchup was Monroe's fifth in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Zach Bodeker, who scored nine points.
Meanwhile, Chester's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Tuesday after their third straight loss. They were the victim of a rough 62-38 loss at the hands of Nashville. While losing is never fun, Chester can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 380th, while Nashville is ranked 170th).
Sparta has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight contests, which provided a nice bump to their 8-3 record this season. As for Chester, they bumped their record down to 3-5 with that loss, which was their sixth straight on the road dating back to last season.
Sparta came up short against Chester when the teams last played back in February, falling 48-38. Can Sparta avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
