The Juniata Valley Hornets had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 32.5 points), and they went ahead and made it three on Friday. They strolled past West Branch with points to spare, taking the game 78-62. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
It was another big night for Charlie Mattas, who dropped a double-double on 23 points and ten rebounds. He has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last three times he's played. Another player making a difference was Jett Rand, who scored 20 points along with six rebounds.
Juniata Valley is on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last nine games, which provided a nice bump to their 12-4 record this season. As for West Branch, their defeat dropped their record down to 15-2.
Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Juniata Valley will face off against Everett at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. West Branch on the road again on Monday and play against Harmony Area at 7:15 p.m. on January 29th. Harmony Area will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Pennsylvania Rankings (they are ranked 675th, while West Branch is ranked 184th).
