The Beech Grove Hornets will square off against the Purdue Polytechnic Techies at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. The two teams have had a bumpy ride up to this point with seven consecutive losses for Beech Grove and four for Purdue Polytechnic.
Last Wednesday, Beech Grove ended up a good deal behind Southport and lost 65-47. While losing is never fun, the Hornets can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 264th, while the Cardinals are ranked 130th).
Despite the loss, Beech Grove saw an underclassman step up: sophomore Bishop Moore went 5-for-9 to rack up 13 points and three steals. Another player making a difference was Adreus Armstrong, who posted seven points.
Meanwhile, Purdue Polytechnic managed to keep up with Indianapolis Arsenal Technical until halftime last Tuesday, but things quickly went downhill from there. The Techies came up short against the Titans, falling 89-66. While the Techies didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Titans 20-13 in the first quarter.
Beech Grove will have to contain TJ Williams as he made an impact in Purdue Polytechnic's last game. He shot 42% from the field en route to 24 points along with seven assists and five boards. That was a full 36.4% of Purdue Polytechnic's points, marking the third time in a row Williams has put up more than a third of the team's points. Rob Anderson was another key player, putting up nine points in addition to five rebounds and three steals.
Beech Grove's defeat dropped their record down to 5-11. As for Purdue Polytechnic, their loss dropped their record down to 7-10.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Beech Grove has been crashing the boards this season, having averaged 26.1 boards per game. However, it's not like Purdue Polytechnic struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 29.5 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other basketball content.
