Basketball Game Preview: Jasper Wildcats vs. Evansville Central Bears

vs

Previous Games

03/01/24 - Neutral	43-35 W
12/29/23 - Home	70-60 W
12/30/22 - Away	60-43 W
12/29/21 - Home	65-39 W
03/02/21 - Home	46-50 L
+ 5 more games

Jasper is 8-2 against Evansville Central since December of 2016 and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The Jasper Wildcats will face off against the Evansville Central Bears at 7:00 p.m. Jasper is coming into the match on a four-game losing streak.

It was a proper cat-fight when Jasper challenged Corydon Central last Saturday. Jasper fell just short of Corydon Central by a score of 60-57. While losing is never fun, the Wildcats can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 275th, while the Panthers are ranked 102nd).

Meanwhile, you're bound to get a positive result if you outscore your opponent every quarter, and that's exactly how it played out for Evansville Central on Saturday. They wrapped up 2024 with a 69-50 win over Vincennes Lincoln. While the Bears didn't have the best season last year (they finished 7-16), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past.

Jasper better keep an eye on Landyn Richason. He was instrumental in Evansville Central's win, going 8 of 11 en route to 24 points. With that strong performance, Richason is now averaging an impressive 15.6 points per game. The team also got some help courtesy of Zaryen Moore, who went 5 of 9 on his way to 10 points along with eight rebounds and five assists.

Jasper's defeat dropped their record down to 1-5. As for Evansville Central, the victory made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 6-2.

Jasper was able to grind out a solid win over Evansville Central in their previous matchup back in March, winning 43-35. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Evansville Central's Daveon Smith, who went 5 of 8 en route to 15 points and six rebounds. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Jasper still be able to contain Smith? There's only one way to find out.