The Willamette Wolverines will head out on the road to face off against the South Eugene Axe at 6:45 p.m. on Tuesday. Willamette has now lost ten straight, leaving the team is hunting for their first win since January 3.
Willamette pushed their score all the way to 63 on Friday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They fell to Roseburg 67-63. While losing is never fun, Willamette can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Oregon basketball rankings (they are ranked 216th, while Roseburg is ranked 45th).
Meanwhile, South Eugene had to endure a four-game losing streak, but that streak is no more. They secured a 68-62 W over Grants Pass on Friday. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead South Eugene to victory, but perhaps none more so than Landyn Bryant, who scored 16 points along with eight assists and seven rebounds. Another player making a difference was Levi Hawes, who almost dropped a double-double on 20 points and nine rebounds.
Willamette dropped their record down to 2-20 with that loss, which was their sixth straight at home. As for South Eugene, their victory bumped their record up to 10-11.
Willamette might still be hurting after the 80-60 defeat they got from South Eugene when the teams last played back in January. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Hawes, who scored 22 points along with six rebounds. Now that Willamette knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
