Basketball Game Preview: Jay Royals vs. Central Jaguars

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Previous Games

02/08/24 - Neutral	63-58 W
01/26/24 - Away	64-44 W
01/12/24 - Home	65-39 W
01/27/23 - Home	63-19 W
01/13/23 - Away	50-37 W
+ 5 more games

Jay has gone 8-2 against Central recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Friday. Having just played yesterday, the Jay Royals will head out on the road to face off against the Central Jaguars at 7:30 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Jay has three straight wins, Central has seven straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the court.

On Thursday, Jay beat Baker 49-42.

Meanwhile, Central came up short against W.S. Neal on Monday and fell 77-65. While losing is never fun, the Jaguars can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' basketball rankings in their respective home states (they are ranked 622nd in Florida, while the Eagles are ranked 214th in Alabama).

Jay will need focus on slowing down Carson Baxley, one of several Central players who made an impact when they last played. He posted 17 points along with six assists and five steals. The dominant performance gave Baxley a new career-high in assists. The team also got some help courtesy of Brock Reeves, who went 6 of 10 on his way to 13 points in addition to six boards and four steals.

Jay has been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five matches, which provided a nice bump to their 7-4 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 57.4 points per game. As for Central, their defeat dropped their record down to 5-11.

Jay didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Central in their previous matchup back in February of 2024, but they still walked away with a 63-58 victory. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Central's Kaden Ellison, who put up 26 points. Now that he won't be playing on Friday, will it be easier for Jay to walk away with another win? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.