The Wallace Wildcats managed to keep up with the Paxton Tigers until halftime on Friday, but things quickly went downhill from there. Wallace was the victim of a rough 72-46 loss at the hands of Paxton. Wallace has not had much luck with Paxton recently, as the team's come up short the last two times they've met.
Despite the loss, Wallace still got an impressive performance from Matt Lungrin, who scored 18 points along with three steals. That was a full 39.1% of Wallace's points, marking the third time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Masen Messersmith, who scored seven points along with six rebounds.
Paxton's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Josh Eakins, who scored 24 points. Tanner Hebblethwaite was another key contributor, scoring 14 points along with three blocks and two steals.
Wallace bumped their record down to 6-8 with that defeat, which was their third straight on the road. As for Paxton, they are on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four contests, which provided a nice bump to their 7-5 record this season.
Wallace will look to defend their home court on Tuesday against Dundy County-Stratton. As for Paxton, they will head out on the road to take on Hitchcock County at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The matchup should be an exciting one, as these teams are ranked near one another in Nebraska (Hitchcock County is ranked 184th, while Paxton is ranked 167th).
