Rusk is 0-10 against Center since January of 2017 but things could change on Friday. The Rusk Eagles will take on the Center Roughriders at 7:30 p.m. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.
Rusk is headed into Friday's match looking for a big change in momentum after dropping their eighth straight game on Tuesday. They took a 71-52 bruising from Madisonville. While losing is never fun, the Eagles can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Texas basketball rankings (they are ranked 739th, while the Mustangs are ranked 281st).
Center has been a dominant force so far, but they're in the middle of a mini-slump at the moment. They took a 68-57 hit to the loss column at the hands of Bullard on Tuesday. The contest was a 34-34 toss-up at halftime, but the Roughriders couldn't quite close it out.
Rusk will need focus on slowing down JaKevin(Tiki) Robinson, one of several Center players who made an impact when they last played. He dropped a double-double on 12 points and 11 boards. Center is 10-3 when Robinson posts ten or more rebounds, but 4-5 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Jimmarion (JA) Smith, who posted six points and 15 boards.
Even though they lost, Center smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 22 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in 12 consecutive games.
Center's defeat ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 14-8. As for Rusk, they now have a losing record at 12-13.
Rusk was dealt a bruising 86-52 loss at the hands of Center in their previous meeting on January 14th. That matchup was all but decided by halftime, at which point Rusk was down 52-23.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
