Basketball Game Preview: Cozad Haymakers vs. McCook Bison

Cozad and McCook are an even 5-5 against one another since February of 2016, but not for long. The Cozad Haymakers will head out on the road to take on the McCook Bison at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.

McCook will be up against a hot Cozad team: the squad just extended their winning streak to three. Everything went Cozad's way against Broken Bow on Friday as Cozad made off with a 66-43 victory. The Haymakers have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won nine contests by 21 points or more this season.

Olliver Davis

Points

02/14/25 vs Broken Bow	24
02/08/25 vs Dundy County-Stratton	12
02/07/25 @ Minden	9
02/06/25 vs Holdrege	7
02/01/25 vs Ogallala	8
+ 17 more games

Olliver Davis continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, going 7-for-11 en route to 24 points and eight boards. He continues to improve, besting his previous point total in each of the last three games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Kellen Shoemaker, who posted 13 points in addition to five rebounds and four steals.

Cozad was working as a unit and finished the game with 16 assists. That's the most assists they've posted since back in December of 2024.

Meanwhile, McCook suffered their biggest loss since February 2, 2024 on Saturday. They came up short against Scottsbluff, falling 87-63. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on Friday (62), the Bison still had to take the loss.

Cozad's win bumped their record up to 20-3. As for McCook, their defeat dropped their record down to 15-7.

Everything went Cozad's way against McCook in their previous meeting back in February of 2024, as Cozad made off with a 62-40 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Cozad since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.