Basketball Game Preview: Winfield Generals vs. Ripley Vikings

Winfield and Ripley are an even 5-5 against one another since March of 2021, but not for long. The Winfield Generals will venture away from home to square off against the Ripley Vikings at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.

Winfield will head into Tuesday's matchup out to bounce back: they won a close one the last time they played, but unfortunately they suffered a serious change of fortune on Tuesday. They were outmatched by Nitro and fell 77-49. The loss continues a trend for the Generals in their matchups with the Wildcats: they've now lost four in a row.

Meanwhile, Ripley won against North Marion on Saturday with 52 points and they decided to stick to that point total again on Tuesday. Ripley came out on top against Sissonville by a score of 52-40. Given the Vikings' advantage in MaxPreps' West Virginia basketball rankings (they are ranked 20th, while the Indians are ranked 71st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Ripley's win came from a few key players Winfield will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Matthew Stellato, who went 6 for 13 on his way to 15 points. Those 15 points gave him a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Brandon Sias, who posted 12 points.

Ripley's win was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 11-3. As for Winfield, their defeat ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 8-5.

Winfield couldn't quite finish off Ripley when the teams last played back in January and fell 52-50. Can Winfield avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.