Roxana is 0-6 against Columbia since December of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The Roxana Shells will head out on the road to face off against the Columbia Eagles at 7:30 p.m. Roxana is hoping to put an end to a three-game streak of away losses.
It's never fun to lose, and it's even less fun to lose 58-24, which was the final score in Roxana's tilt against Breese Central last Friday. While losing is never fun, Roxana can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 281st, while Breese Central is ranked 13th).
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Sean Maberry, who scored eight points. He scored a full 33.3% of Roxana's points, the third time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Chris Walleck, who scored five points.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Roxana struggled to get the ball back on offense and finished the game with only two offensive rebounds. That's the fewest offensive rebounds they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, Columbia came up short against Teutopolis on Saturday and fell 49-36. Columbia has now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Hayes Van breusegen put forth a good effort for the losing side as he scored six points.
Roxana's defeat ended a four-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 4-4. Columbia's record now sits at 5-4.
Tuesday's game is shaping up to be a scrappy match: Roxana have been smashing the glass this season, having only averaged 19.2 rebounds per game. It's a different story for Columbia, though, as they've been averaging only 14.9 rebounds per game. Given Roxana's sizeable advantage in that area, Columbia will need to find a way to close that gap.
Roxana took a serious blow against Columbia when the teams last played back in February, falling 70-42. The matchup was all but decided by halftime, at which point Roxana was down 43-14.
