Haywood and Bolivar Central are an even 5-5 against one another since February of 2019, but not for long. The Haywood Tomcats will face off against the Bolivar Central Tigers at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. One thing working in Haywood's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points in their last three matchups.
On Saturday, Haywood didn't have too much breathing room in their contest against Trinity Christian Academy, but they still walked away with a 67-62 win. The victory was all the more spectacular given the Tomcats' disadvantage in MaxPreps' Tennessee basketball rankings (they are ranked 108th, while the Lions are ranked 33rd).
Meanwhile, Bolivar Central had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 19.5 points) and they went ahead and made it three two weeks ago. They put the hurt on the Crusaders with a sharp 47-26 win.
Haywood better focus on containing Kealan Polk and Jakylon Robertson as the pair were huge in Bolivar Central's win. Polk went 8 for 15 en route to 19 points along with six rebounds and three steals, while Robertson went 6 of 9 on his way to 13 points and eight boards. Aryan Spencer was another key player, putting up four points and three steals.
Bolivar Central smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 11 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 11 offensive boards in three consecutive games.
Bolivar Central has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight matches, which provided a nice bump to their 9-8 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 69.1 points per game. As for Haywood, the victory got them back to even at 10-10.
Haywood came out on top in a nail-biter against Bolivar Central in their previous matchup back in February of 2024, sneaking past 74-72. The rematch might be a little tougher for Haywood since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
