Basketball Game Preview: Wayne County War Eagles vs. East Central Hornets

vs

Previous 6 Games

12/17/24 - Home	71-43 W
01/24/24 - Home	68-30 W
01/02/24 - Away	67-51 W
02/10/20 - Away	71-24 W
01/31/20 - Away	51-41 W
01/03/20 - Home	53-40 W

Wayne County is 6-0 against East Central since January of 2020 and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Tuesday. The Wayne County War Eagles will venture away from home to face off against the East Central Hornets at 7:00 p.m. East Central took a loss in their last match and will be looking to turn the tables on Wayne County, who comes in off a win.

Wayne County will head into Thursday's game on the come-up: they were handed a heart-breaking two-point defeat in their last contest, but they sure didn't let that happen against Gautier on Thursday. Wayne County blew past Gautier, posting a 56-18 win.

Meanwhile, East Central came up short against Gautier on Tuesday and fell 68-56. While losing is never fun, the Hornets can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Mississippi basketball rankings (they are ranked 284th, while the Gators are ranked 129th).

Wayne County will have to contain Aj Hopkins as he made an impact in East Central's last game. He went 10 of 19 on his way to 28 points and six rebounds. The matchup was Hopkins' fourth in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Anthony Bonfiglio, who went 5 of 7 on his way to 11 points and five rebounds.

The victory got Wayne County back to even at 9-9. As for East Central, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 3-12.

Everything came up roses for Wayne County against East Central in their previous matchup back in December of 2024, as the team secured a 71-43 win. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Hopkins, who went 9 of 15 on his way to 22 points. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Wayne County still be able to contain Hopkins? There's only one way to find out.