Basketball Recap: Grant Allard's Big Game Can't Quite Lead Sparta over Okawville

If Sparta was riding high fresh off their 68-45 takedown of East Alton-Wood River last Wednesday, their most recent game may have dampened their spirits a bit. The Sparta Bulldogs lost to the Okawville Rockets on the road by a 64-48 margin on Friday. The Bulldogs were not able to repeat the success they had when they faced the Rockets earlier this season, when they won 54-49.

Sparta lost despite a true team effort on offense, the best among them being Grant Allard, who went 6 of 10 to rack up 16 points. The dominant performance gave Allard a new career-high in points. The team also got some help courtesy of DJ Hayes, who posted 11 points and three steals.

Sparta's defeat dropped their record down to 16-9. As for Okawville, they are on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight games, which provided a nice bump to their 13-14 record this season.

Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Sparta and Benton will face off at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday without much rest having both just played. Benton will roll in looking for their fourth straight victory, something Sparta surely won't give up without a fight. As for Okawville, they won't have much time to rest: their next contest is against Gibault Catholic at 5:15 p.m. on Saturday.