The Haltom Buffalos will be playing in front of their home fans against the Sam Houston Texans at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The timing is sure in Haltom's favor as the team sits on nine straight wins at home (dating back to last season) while the Texans have been banged up by three consecutive losses on the road.
Haltom pushed their score all the way to 56 on Friday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They fell 65-56 to Bowie.
Haltom's loss came about despite a quality game from Kuol Atak, who dropped a double-double on 22 points and 11 rebounds. Atak has been hot recently, having posted eight or more rebounds the last ten times he's played. Another player making a difference was Baron Smith jr, who dropped a double-double on 11 points and 13 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Sam Houston was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap on Friday as they fell 56-50 to the Warriors. While losing is never fun, Sam Houston can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Texas basketball rankings (they are ranked 724th, while the Warriors are ranked 179th).
Despite the loss, Sam Houston saw an underclassman step up: Harlem Hayes scored 17 points along with five rebounds and four steals. It was the first time this season that Hayes scored 15 or more points. The team also got some help courtesy of Terry Brock, who scored 13 points along with two steals.
Haltom's defeat dropped their record down to 20-9. As for Sam Houston, they have been struggling recently as they've lost 17 of their last 18 games, which put a noticeable dent in their 4-24 record this season.
Everything went Haltom's way against the Texans in their previous meeting back in January as the Buffalos made off with a 81-60 win. Does Haltom have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Texans turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
