The Harlandale Indians will take on the Jay Mustangs in a holiday battle at at 8:00 p.m. on Friday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: both posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Harlandale is likely headed into the game with a focus on the second half, which is when things went downhill against Southwest on Friday. Harlandale lost to Southwest at home by a 77-61 margin. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on Tuesday (57), the Indians still had to take the loss.
Meanwhile, Jay had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 13 points) and they went ahead and made it four on Friday. They blew past the Brahmas 87-41. The Mustangs have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won ten matchups by 25 points or more this season.
Harlandale better keep an eye on Jarrius Jackson Jr. He was instrumental in Jay's win, going 13 of 22 on his way to 30 points and three steals. That's the most points Jackson Jr has posted since back in December of 2023. The team also got some help courtesy of Zachariah Linson, who almost dropped a double-double on 17 points and nine boards.
Jay was working as a unit and finished the game with 22 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as MacArthur only posted nine assists.
Jay pushed their record up to 18-2 with the victory, which was their 12th straight on the road dating back to last season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 81.2 points per game. As for Harlandale, their defeat was their first in the district, dropping their district record down to 2-1 and their overall record down to 8-5.
Harlandale beat Jay 72-65 in their previous matchup back in December of 2021. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Jay's Jaylon Pritchett, who went 12 of 26 on his way to 36 points. Now that he won't be playing on Friday, will it be easier for Harlandale to walk away with another win? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
