The Evansville Memorial Tigers will head out on the road to challenge the Evansville Central Bears at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Evansville Memorial has four straight victories, Evansville Central has four straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Winning is just a little bit easier when you outrebound your opponent 11 to 4 on the offensive boards, a fact Evansville Memorial proved on Tuesday. They came out on top against Mt. Vernon by a score of 52-42. Given Evansville Memorial's advantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 38th, while Mt. Vernon is ranked 185th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Evansville Memorial's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Luke Ellspermann, who scored 17 points along with six rebounds and two steals. Ellspermann hasn't dropped below two steals for three straight games. The team also got some help courtesy of Tucker Tornatta, who almost dropped a double-double on nine points and 15 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Evansville Central took a serious blow against Evansville North on Friday, falling 73-44. Evansville Central has struggled against Evansville North recently, as their game on Friday was their fifth consecutive lost matchup.
The losing side was boosted by Landyn Richason, who scored 17 points along with five steals. Another player making a difference was Kyler Hill, who scored seven points along with two steals.
Evansville Memorial has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won nine of their last ten games, which provided a nice bump to their 12-5 record this season. As for Evansville Central, they dropped their record down to 6-12 with that defeat, which was their sixth straight on the road.
Tuesday's match is shaping up to be a masterclass in shooting: Evansville Memorial have been dynamite from deep this season, having made 43.8% of their threes per game. However, it's not like Evansville Central struggles in that department as they've made 42.1% of their threes this season. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Evansville Memorial was able to grind out a solid victory over Evansville Central in their previous matchup back in February of 2023, winning 67-55. The rematch might be a little tougher for Evansville Memorial since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
