The Evansville Mater Dei Wildcats lost against the Evansville Harrison Warriors back in January of 2023, and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Tuesday. The New Year welcomed Evansville Mater Dei with a 79-49 whooping from Evansville Harrison. While losing is never fun, Evansville Mater Dei can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 196th, while Evansville Harrison is ranked 27th).
Evansville Mater Dei's loss came despite strong showings from Zane Norman and Tanner Halbig. Norman scored 16 points, while Halbig scored 15 points. The game was Norman's third in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was James Hoffman, who scored five points.
Evansville Harrison got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Malachi Mcnair out in front who dropped a double-double on 24 points and 13 rebounds. The game was Mcnair's fifth in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Shane Sims, who dropped a double-double on 15 points and ten assists.
Evansville Mater Dei bumped their record down to 4-6 with that loss, which was their third straight on the road. As for Evansville Harrison, the victory makes it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 8-2.
Both teams are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Evansville Mater Dei will take on Gibson Southern at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday. As for Evansville Harrison, they will look to defend their home court on Friday against Evansville North at 7:00 p.m. Evansville North knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with flashy point totals in its past seven matches -- so hopefully Evansville Harrison likes a good challenge.
