West Lafayette is 2-8 against Western since January of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The West Lafayette Red Devils are on the road again and play against the Western Panthers at 7:30 p.m. on December 21st. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.
West Lafayette pushed their score all the way to 72 on Saturday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They fell just short of Hamilton Heights by a score of 75-72. Despite running the score up even higher than they did on Friday (62), West Lafayette still had to take the loss.
Meanwhile, Western was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap on Tuesday as they fell 55-49 to Oak Hill. Western has now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Despite their loss, Western saw several players rise to the challenge and make noteworthy plays. Logan Nelson, who scored 18 points, was perhaps the best of all. The matchup was Nelson's seventh in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Sam Thurston, who scored eight points along with three steals.
Western struggled to get the ball back on offense and finished the game with only an offensive rebound. That's the fewest offensive rebounds they've managed all season.
West Lafayette's defeat dropped their record down to 5-3. As for Western, they have been struggling recently, as they've lost three of their last four matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 3-5 record this season.
West Lafayette came up short against Western when the teams last played back in February, falling 61-53. Can West Lafayette avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
