Preview: Evansville Harrison Warriors vs. Castle Knights
Evansville Harrison and Castle are an even 5-5 against one another since January of 2015, but not for long. The Evansville Harrison Warriors will face off against the Castle Knights at 5:30 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the pair will really light up the scoreboard.
Evansville Harrison scored the most points they've had all season to find success on Thursday. They claimed a resounding 90-40 win over Springs Valley at home. Evansville Harrison has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won eight contests by 25 points or more this season.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Evansville Harrison to victory, but perhaps none more so than Eli Speer, who dropped a triple-double on 13 points, ten rebounds, and ten assists. It was the first time this season that Speer pulled down eight or more rebounds. Brooks Thomas was another key contributor, scoring 15 points along with eight rebounds.
Meanwhile, with a playoff game on the line, Castle rose to the challenge on Tuesday. They blew past the Huskies, posting a 68-39 victory on the road. The victory was just what Castle needed coming off of a 79-58 defeat in their prior matchup.
Castle got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Xander Niehaus out in front who scored 15 points along with eight rebounds and six assists. Niehaus has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last five times he's played. Another player making a difference was Adler Mcatee, who scored 13 points along with six assists.
Evansville Harrison's victory was their 15th straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 18-4. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 73.7 points per game. As for Castle, their win bumped their record up to 13-9.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as Evansville Harrison and Castle are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Evansville Harrison hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 70 points per game. However, it's not like Castle struggles in that department as they've been averaging 62.2 points per game. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Evansville Harrison strolled past Castle in their previous matchup back in December of 2023 by a score of 85-66. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Mcatee, who scored 21 points. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Evansville Harrison still be able to contain Mcatee? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
