Basketball Recap: Champaign Central Takes Down Centennial in a Playoff Battle

It can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but Champaign Central had no problem doing just that on Wednesday. They came out on top against the Centennial Chargers by a score of 64-53. Given the Maroons' advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 103rd in Illinois, while the Chargers are ranked 231st in Illinois), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Chris Bush

Points

02/26/25 @ Centennial	31
01/17/25 @ Centennial	27
12/05/24 @ Richwoods	24
01/31/25 vs Manual	23
01/24/25 vs Centralia	22
+ 23 more games

Chris Bush was his usual excellent self, going 11-for-16 en route to 31 points and five rebounds. He has become a key player for Champaign Central: the team is 12-6 when he posts at least 15 points, but 4-6 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of David Hasenstab, who went 5-for-8 to rack up 10 points.

Champaign Central's win ended a three-game drought on the road and puts them at 16-12. As for Centennial, their defeat was their sixth straight at home, which dropped their record down to 12-19.

Coming up, Champaign Central will face off against MacArthur at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. MacArthur has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last four games. Centennial does not have any more games scheduled as of now.