Many basketball fans will get a chance to catch both their favorite team’s game and the Ohio State University Sugar Bowl game against Arkansas tonight.

Tipoffs of six area games — five boys games and one girls game — have been moved up to 6:30 p.m. to give fans a chance to get back home to catch the football game, slated for 8:30 p.m. Two games were rescheduled to accommodate the bowl game, Xenia Christian at Greenon boys and Graham at Anna girls.

“We might get a chance to catch the second half,” said West Liberty-Salem boys basketball coach Aaron Hollar. “We have some players and parents who’ll want to catch the game. I’m glad Greeneview asked us to do that.”

One big game will take place in Jamestown. West Liberty-Salem (5-2, 5-0 OHC) travels to Greeneview (6-1, 4-0 OHC) in a battle of unbeaten Ohio Heritage Conference squads.

After starting 0-2, the Tigers have won five straight. They host the other OHC unbeaten squad, Catholic Central, on Friday.

“We’re tickled to death to be in this position,” Hollar said. “This whole week, in general, is going to be a lot of fun for us.”

They’ll look to slow down a strong Greeneview squad led by post players Evan Bradds (18.0 points per game) and Ronnie Drinnon (16.0 ppg). The Rams are averaging 58.7 points per game.

The Tigers are one of the top defensive teams in the area, allowing 40.3 ppg.

“If we can limit them to below their averages, or make them work really hard to get to their averages, then it will give us a chance,” Hollar said. “On the road at Greeneview, our goal is to have a chance at the end of the night to make a play or two to win it.”

Greeneview coach Bill Green knows his team is in for a battle, regardless of the game time.

“They play very good defense and they’re well-coached,” Green said. “It’s going to be a dogfight. Hopefully we’ll be prepared for it.”

Tough stretch

Yellow Springs will have waited 18 days between games during the Christmas holidays.

The Bulldogs last played on Dec. 17, a 67-52 victory over Xenia Christian. They didn’t play a single game over the holidays and travel to Stivers tonight.

“We’ve done some stuff over the break, but it’s not the same knowing you have a game coming up,” said coach Brad Newsome.

After the Stivers game, Yellow Springs won’t play again until Jan. 14 — another 10-day wait. If you’re counting, that’s one game in 28 days.

From that point forward, they’ve got seven games in 10 days, a rough stretch for any team.

“The NBA doesn’t even do that,” Newsome said. “We’ll get through it.”

Back on track

After starting the season 1-3, Kenton Ridge (3-3, 1-2 Central Buckeye Conference Kenton Trail Division) is on a two-game winning streak.

Cougars coach Kris Spriggs said his team is finally starting to come together after graduating seven seniors from last year’s team.

“The kids are taking care of the ball a little better,” Spriggs said. “It takes time. We had a lot of kids play football, so we weren’t able to be in the gym a lot. We’re starting to get in a little better basketball shape.”

They host Indian Lake (1-5) tonight and Tippecanoe (4-3, 2-1) for a big Kenton Trail game on Friday.