The Wharton Tigers's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Tuesday after their fifth straight loss. They opened the new year with a less-than-successful 58-50 defeat to Needville. The matchup was a 30-30 toss-up at halftime, but Wharton was outscored by Needville in the second.
Despite the defeat, Wharton had strong showings from Angell Gaona, Jr., who dropped a double-double on 17 points and 14 rebounds, and Jacoryan Dickerson, who scored 12 points along with nine rebounds. Those 14 rebounds set a new season-high mark for him. The team also got some help courtesy of Carlton Scott II, who scored 12 points.
Even though they lost, Wharton were smashing the offensive glass and finished the game with 15 offensive rebounds. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Needville only pulled down seven offensive rebounds.
Bohdan Zeitz continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines for Needville, scoring 24 points along with five rebounds. That makes it four consecutive games in which Zeitz has scored at least 25% of Needville's points. Keilan Sweeny was another key contributor, scoring ten points along with five rebounds and three steals.
Wharton has not been sharp recently, as they've lost eight of their last nine contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 7-14 record this season. As for Needville, they pushed their record up to 13-4 with that victory, which was their fourth straight at home.
Wharton will take on Royal at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Royal knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with flashy point totals in its past three matches -- so hopefully Wharton likes a good challenge. As for Needville, they will head out on the road to face off against El Campo at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. El Campo will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Texas Rankings (they are ranked 902nd, while Needville is ranked 335th).
