Taft is 8-2 against the BIG RED since March of 2019, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The Taft Senators will head out on the road to square off against the Hughes BIG RED at 7:30 p.m. Taft has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 1,012 points over their last 13 matchups.
Even though Stivers School for the Arts scored an imposing 60 points on Tuesday, Taft still came out on top. Taft put the hurt on the Tigers with a sharp 83-60 win. Given Taft's advantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 107th, while the Tigers are ranked 520th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Meanwhile, it's never fun to lose, and it's even less fun to lose 73-43, which was the final score in Hughes' tilt against the Rams on Wednesday. Hughes was in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 39-19.
Taft is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matches, which provided a massive bump to their 11-8 record this season. As for Hughes, they have been struggling recently as they've lost six of their last eight contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 9-9 record this season.
Everything went Taft's way against the BIG RED when the teams last played back in December of 2023 as the Senators made off with a 80-58 win. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Hughes' Elijah Engleman, who scored 22 points along with eight rebounds and four steals. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Taft still be able to contain Engleman? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
