Basketball Game Preview: Bullard Panthers vs. Center Roughriders

Bullard has won three straight games at home, while Center has won three straight on the road, but those streaks won't matter much on Tuesday. The Bullard Panthers will welcome the Center Roughriders at 7:30 p.m. Center took a loss in their last game and will be looking to turn the tables on Bullard, who comes in off a win.

Last Friday, Bullard slipped by Hudson 51-50.

Meanwhile, Center unfortunately witnessed the end of their four-game winning streak on Friday. They were just a bucket shy of victory and fell 68-67 to Madisonville. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on Wednesday (56), the Roughriders still had to take the loss.

Loss or not, Center got some senior leadership from Tim Johnson and JaKevin(Tiki) Robinson. Johnson went 9 for 14 en route to 25 points and three steals, while Robinson dropped a double-double on 21 points and 11 boards. The contest was Johnson's fifth in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Jimmarion (JA) Smith, who posted eight points and seven rebounds.

Even though they lost, Center smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 18 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive rebounds in 11 consecutive matchups.

Bullard has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven games, which provided a nice bump to their 19-8 record this season. As for Center, their defeat was their first in the district, dropping their district record down to 4-1 and their overall record down to 14-7.

Bullard came up short against Center in their previous meeting two weeks ago, falling 69-57. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Johnson, who went 10 of 20 on his way to 26 points in addition to five boards and three steals. Now that Bullard knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.