The Sparta Trojans will be staying on the road on Friday to face off against the Carthage Tigers at 6:00 p.m. on December 15th. Sparta has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 412 points over their last six games.
Sparta scored the most points they've had all season to find success on Tuesday. They strolled past Ash Grove with points to spare, taking the game 84-70. Given Sparta's advantage in MaxPreps' Missouri basketball rankings (they are ranked 34th, while Ash Grove is ranked 229th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Walker Loveland and Jacob Lafferty were among the main playmakers for Sparta as the former scored 20 points along with five assists and five rebounds and the latter dropped a double-double on 37 points and 20 rebounds. The match was Lafferty's sixth in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Leeanthoney Mayes, who scored nine points.
Meanwhile, Carthage unfortunately witnessed the end of their three-game winning streak on Tuesday. They lost to Central at home by a decisive 74-55 margin. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
Sparta's victory was their seventh straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 6-0. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 73.4 points per game. As for Carthage, their loss dropped their record down to 3-1.
