Basketball Game Preview: Center Roughriders vs. Bullard Panthers

The Center Roughriders will square off against the Bullard Panthers at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. One thing working in Center's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points in their last five matches.

Center is likely headed into the game with a focus on the second half, which is when things went downhill against Madisonville on Friday. Center was just a bucket shy of victory and fell 68-67 to Madisonville. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on Wednesday (56), the Roughriders still had to take the loss.

Center's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Tim Johnson, who went 9 of 14 on his way to 25 points and three steals, and JaKevin(Tiki) Robinson, who dropped a double-double on 21 points and 11 rebounds. Those 21 points gave Robinson a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Jimmarion (JA) Smith, who posted eight points and seven boards.

Even though they lost, Center smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 18 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in 11 consecutive contests.

Meanwhile, Bullard entered their tilt with Hudson on Friday with three consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with four. They slipped by the Hornets 51-50.

Bullard is also on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven matches, which provided a nice bump to their 19-8 record this season. As for Center, they moved to 14-7 with that defeat, which also ended their four-game winning streak.

Center was able to grind out a solid win over Bullard in their previous matchup two weeks ago, winning 69-57. The rematch might be a little tougher for Center since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.