The Veterans Memorial Patriots will head out on the road to take on the Tivy Antlers at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Veterans Memorial has 25 straight victories, the Antlers have four straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Last Friday, Veterans Memorial didn't have too much breathing room in their matchup against the Thunderbirds, but they still walked away with a 44-40 victory. Given Veterans Memorial's advantage in MaxPreps' Texas basketball rankings (they are ranked 14th, while the Thunderbirds are ranked 62nd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
It was another big night for Demarion Dennis, who scored 22 points. He has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last four times he's played. Another player making a difference was Gervai Maeweathers, who scored 11 points.
Meanwhile, Tivy came up short against the Warriors on Friday and fell 62-51.
Veterans Memorial pushed their record up to 32-1 with that victory, which was their 19th straight at home dating back to last season. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 67.3 points per game. As for Tivy, they have traveled a rocky road recently having lost nine of their last 12 matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 14-16 record this season.
Everything went Veterans Memorial's way against the Antlers in their previous meeting back in January as the Patriots made off with a 66-44 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Veterans Memorial since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
