The Orleans Bulldogs will head out on the road to square off against the North Harrison Cougars at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Orleans has 11 straight wins, the Cougars have three straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Orleans proved they can win big last Saturday (they won by 21) but on Thursday they proved they can win the close ones too. They came out on top in a nail-biter against Loogootee and snuck past 35-32. Despite the victory, that was the fewest points Orleans has scored all season.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Orleans to victory, but perhaps none more so than Ian Hall, who scored 11 points along with two steals. Rylan Crocker was another key contributor, scoring 12 points.
Meanwhile, North Harrison took a serious blow against the Pirates on Thursday, falling 67-37. While losing is never fun, North Harrison can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 387th, while the Pirates are ranked 150th).
Orleans pushed their record up to 14-2 with that victory, which was their eighth straight on the road. As for North Harrison, their loss dropped their record down to 1-15.
Orleans was able to grind out a solid victory over the Cougars when the teams last played back in February of 2023, winning 58-50. The rematch might be a little tougher for Orleans since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
