Basketball Game Preview: Tolar Rattlers vs. Eastland Mavericks

The Tolar Rattlers will venture away from home to face off against the Eastland Mavericks at 6:15 p.m. on Friday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.

Eastland will be up against a hot Tolar squad: the team just extended their winning streak to three. Tolar was the clear victor by a 50-29 margin over Millsap on Tuesday. Given the Rattlers' advantage in MaxPreps' Texas basketball rankings (they are ranked 252nd, while the Bulldogs are ranked 1129th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Eastland, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Friday. They blew past Breckenridge 53-21 on Tuesday.

Eastland's win was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 9-13. Those victories came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 24.0 points per game. As for Tolar, they are on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine contests, which provided a nice bump to their 20-8 record this season.

Tolar was able to grind out a solid victory over Eastland in their previous matchup back in December of 2024, winning 48-39. The rematch might be a little tougher for Tolar since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.