The Valley City Hi-Liners will look to defend their home court on Tuesday against the Oak Grove Lutheran Grovers 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'.
Last Saturday, Valley City came up short against Wyndmere/Lidgerwood and fell 57-50.
Meanwhile, Oak Grove Lutheran's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Friday after their fifth straight loss. They suffered a tough 69-46 defeat at the hands of Wahpeton. While losing is never fun, Oak Grove Lutheran can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Dakota basketball rankings (they are ranked 89th, while Wahpeton is ranked ninth).
Valley City has been struggling recently, as they've lost four of their last five games, which put a noticeable dent in their 2-7 record this season. As for Oak Grove Lutheran, their loss was their fifth straight at home dating back to last season, which bumped their record down to 1-8.
Valley City came up short against Oak Grove Lutheran in their previous meeting back in December of 2020, falling 72-64. Thankfully for Valley City, Jon Asche (who went 6 for 11 from beyond the arc en route to 26 points and 2 assists) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.