Basketball Game Preview: Central Catholic Fighting Irish vs. Shawnee Indians

The Central Catholic Fighting Irish will take on the Shawnee Indians at 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Central Catholic comes in on three and Shawnee on 14.

Central Catholic is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. They beat Southview by the very same score they won with in their prior game: 81-46. The Fighting Irish have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won eight contests by 22 points or more this season.

Meanwhile, Shawnee strolled past Defiance with points to spare on Saturday, taking the game 58-43. Given the Indians' advantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 15th, while the Bulldogs are ranked 147th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Shawnee found their leader in sophomore Trevick Bertke, who shot 56% from the field to rack up 29 points in addition to six rebounds and four steals. Bertke's afternoon made it 12 games in a row in which he has scored at least 15 points. Another player making a difference was Beckett Bertke, who dropped a double-double with 15 points and 11 boards.

Shawnee pushed their record up to 23-2 with the victory, which was their 18th straight at home dating back to last season. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 65.1 points over those games. As for Central Catholic, their win bumped their record up to 13-9.