The Taft Greyhounds will be playing at home against the Mathis Pirates at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. One thing working in Taft's favor is that they have posted big point totals in their last eight matches.
Taft pushed their score all the way to 57 on Friday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They fell to Goliad 61-57.
Taft's loss came about despite a quality game from Jordan Villalobos, who scored 25 points along with five rebounds and two steals. That was a full 43.9% of Taft's points, marking the seventh time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. David Davis was another key contributor, scoring eight points along with ten rebounds and three steals.
Mathis suffered their biggest defeat yet this season on Friday. They had to suffer through a rough 102-52 loss at the hands of Aransas Pass.
Despite their defeat, Mathis saw several players rise to the challenge and make noteworthy plays. EJ Montemayor, who scored eight points along with two steals, was perhaps the best of all. The team also got some help courtesy of Brandon Reed, who scored six points.
Taft's loss ended a five-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 18-10. As for Mathis, their loss dropped their record down to 12-12.
Keep an eye on the arc in Tuesday's match: Taft have made nailing deep shots look easy this year this season, having only averaged 7 threes per game. It's a different story for Mathis, though, as they've been averaging only 3.7 threes per game. Given Taft's sizeable advantage in that area, Mathis will need to find a way to close that gap.
Taft was able to grind out a solid win over Mathis in their previous matchup back in February of 2023, winning 64-55. Will Taft repeat their success, or does Mathis have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
