Basketball Game Preview: Washburn Rural Blues vs. Blue Valley Tigers

The Washburn Rural Blues will head out to take on the Blue Valley Tigers at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.

Washburn Rural will head into Thursday's match on the come-up: they were handed a 26-point loss in their previous outing, but that didn't affect their clutch gene on Thursday. They came out on top in a nail-biter against Junction City, sneaking past 59-56. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest victory the Blues have posted since February 16, 2024.

Washburn Rural's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from John Hoytal, who posted ten points along with seven assists and six boards. The dominant performance gave Hoytal a new career-high in assists. The team also got some help courtesy of Kaden Ballard, who put up 11 points and six rebounds.

Meanwhile, Blue Valley entered their tilt with Manhattan on Thursday with five consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with six. They strolled past the Indians with points to spare, taking the game 64-50. The Tigers pushed the score to 56-35 by the end of the third, a deficit the Indians cut but never quite recovered from.

Blue Valley's win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 9-3. As for Washburn Rural, they are also on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five contests, which provided a nice bump to their 9-3 record this season.

Washburn Rural skirted past Blue Valley 62-59 when the teams last played back in January of 2024. The rematch might be a little tougher for Washburn Rural since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.