The Garaway Pirates will head out on the road to take on the Tuscarawas Valley Trojans at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.
Garaway fought the good fight in their overtime matchup against Sandy Valley on Tuesday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell just short of the Cardinals by a score of 45-42. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest loss Garaway has suffered against Sandy Valley since January 12, 2018.
Tuscarawas Valley posted their closest win yet this season on Tuesday. They came out on top in a nail-biter against Claymont and snuck past 44-41. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Tuscarawas Valley.
Tuscarawas Valley's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was John Leffler, who scored 18 points along with eight rebounds. That makes it three consecutive games in which Leffler has scored at least a third of Tuscarawas Valley's points. Another player making a difference was Cole Kuykendall, who scored 12 points along with two blocks.
Garaway's loss dropped their record down to 8-5. As for Tuscarawas Valley, they have been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 5-7 record this season.
Garaway came up short against Tuscarawas Valley in their previous meeting back in December of 2023, falling 34-29. Can Garaway avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
