Center and Palestine are an even 4-4 against one another since December of 2015, but not for long. The Center Roughriders will welcome the Palestine Wildcats at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Center is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They breezed by Rusk to the tune of 86-52 on Tuesday. With the Roughriders ahead 52-23 at the half, the match was all but over already.
| 01/14/25 @ Rusk | 3 |
| 12/28/24 vs Bridge City | 2 |
| 01/07/25 vs Hallsville | 1 |
| 12/27/24 vs Almeta Crawford | 1 |
| 12/21/24 vs Silsbee | 1 |
Center's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Jimmarion (JA) Smith, who dropped a double-double on 14 points and ten boards. The dominant performance also gave Smith a new career-high in assists (three). Another player making a difference was Travis (TJ) Belin Jr, who went 6 for 10 on his way to 16 points in addition to seven rebounds and six assists.
Center smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 19 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 12 offensive rebounds in eight consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, Palestine entered their game against Bullard on Tuesday without any home losses, but there's a first time for everything. Palestine took a 65-55 hit to the loss column at the hands of Bullard. The Wildcats have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Center will need focus on slowing down Ashton Cook, one of several Palestine players who made an impact when they last played. He went 5 of 11 en route to 14 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Thomas Edwards, who posted 11 points and eight boards.
Center has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six matches, which provided a nice bump to their 12-6 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 64.7 points per game. As for Palestine, their loss ended a seven-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 12-11.
Center beat Palestine 65-55 in their previous matchup back in February of 2022. Will Center repeat their success, or does Palestine have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
