Willard is 8-1 against the Bulldogs since January of 2015, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The Willard Tigers are on the road again and plays the Carl Junction Bulldogs at 7:30 p.m. on February 2nd. Willard has insisted on making their lastthree contests complete nail-biters, turning in a record of 2-1 during that stretch of close contests.
Even though Aurora scored an imposing 83 points last Tuesday, Willard still came out on top. Willard sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 85-83 victory over the Houn Dawgs. Given Willard's advantage in MaxPreps' Missouri basketball rankings (they are ranked 64th, while the Houn Dawgs are ranked 218th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Meanwhile, Carl Junction pushed their score all the way to 62 on Tuesday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They wound up with the same score they had in their last game (66-62), but sadly the team found themselves on the wrong side of the score this time. It was the first time this season that they let down their fans at home.
Despite the loss, Carl Junction saw an underclassman step up: Brody Pant scored 22 points along with eight rebounds. Pant is on a roll when it comes to points, as he's now scored 22 or more in the last three games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Deacon Endicott, who scored 11 points along with six rebounds.
Willard's win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 12-5. They've had to fight for that success though, as they only beat their opponents by an average of 2.67 points across that stretch. As for Carl Junction, their loss ended a four-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 9-8.
Willard didn't have too much breathing room in their contest against the Bulldogs in their previous matchup back in February of 2023, but they still walked away with a 68-64 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Willard since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
