The Wellington-Napoleon Tigers will be home for the holidays to greet the Plattsburg Tigers at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the pair posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Wellington-Napoleon's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Friday after their third straight loss. They received a tough blow as they fell 73-58 to Lexington. While losing is never fun, Wellington-Napoleon can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Missouri basketball rankings (they are ranked 469th, while Lexington is ranked 190th).
The losing side was boosted by Trotter Hughes, who scored 26 points. He scored a full 44.8% of Wellington-Napoleon's points, the sixth time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Haden Terrill was another key contributor, scoring 12 points along with five rebounds and three blocks.
Meanwhile, Plattsburg unfortunately witnessed the end of their five-game winning streak on Friday. They were just a bucket shy of victory and fell 65-64 to Greenwood. Despite running the score up even higher than they did on Wednesday (58), Plattsburg still had to take the loss.
Plattsburg might have lost, but man, Michael "isaia" Howard was a machine: he shot 6-for-7 from long range and dropped a double-double on 39 points and 11 rebounds. The game was Howard's seventh in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Jaiveon Grayson, who scored 11 points along with five rebounds.
Wellington-Napoleon has traveled a rocky road recently, as they've lost four of their last five matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 2-5 record this season. As for Plattsburg, their loss ended a ten-game streak of away wins dating back to last season and brought them to 5-2.
Tuesday's game is shaping up to be a scrappy match: Wellington-Napoleon have been smashing the glass this season, having only averaged 28.3 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Plattsburg struggles in that department as they've been averaging only 30.7 rebounds per game. Given Wellington-Napoleon's sizeable advantage in that area, Plattsburg will need to find a way to close that gap. Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other basketball content.
