Basketball Game Preview: Earlville Red Raiders vs. Putnam County Panthers

The Earlville Red Raiders and the Putnam County Panthers will face off at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday without much rest having both just played. The two teams have had a bumpy ride up to this point with three consecutive losses for Earlville and 14 for Putnam County dating back to last season.

Earlville's tournament run continued when they took on Wethersfield on Friday. Earlville took a 51-47 hit to the loss column at the hands of Wethersfield.

Defeat or not, Earlville got some senior leadership from Easton Fruit and Adam Waite. Fruit went 8 of 20 en route to 20 points along with six boards and three steals, while Waite dropped a double-double on 15 points and 20 boards. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Fruit has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Colton Fruit, who posted nine points and five rebounds.

Even though they lost, Earlville smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 16 offensive boards. That's the most offensive rebounds they've posted since back in February.

Meanwhile, Putnam County lost to Indian Creek on the road by a 46-30 margin on Friday. While losing is never fun, the Panthers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 704th, while the Timberwolves are ranked 327th).

Putnam County's loss dropped their record down to 0-12. As for Earlville, their defeat dropped their record down to 2-12.