Basketball Preview: Lincoln Southeast Knights vs. Kearney Bearcats
The Lincoln Southeast Knights will head out on the road to face off against the Kearney Bearcats at 7:45 p.m. on Friday. One thing working in Lincoln Southeast's favor is that they have posted big point totals in their last seven contests.
Lincoln Southeast pushed their score all the way to 67 on Saturday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They fell to Bellevue West 72-67. While losing is never fun, Lincoln Southeast can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Nebraska basketball rankings (they are ranked 26th, while the Thunderbirds are ranked first).
Lincoln Southeast's defeat shouldn't obscure the performances of Taye Moore, who scored 26 points, and Mike Ngoyi who scored 16 points along with seven rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Moore has scored all season. Deng Giet was another key contributor, scoring ten points along with six rebounds and two blocks.
Meanwhile, Kearney entered their tilt with the with two consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with three. Kearney came out on top against the by a score of 51-42 on Monday. Despite the win, that was the fewest points Kearney has scored all season.
Lincoln Southeast's defeat ended a five-game streak of away wins and brought them to 15-5. As for Kearney, they are on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last ten games, which provided a nice bump to their 13-5 record this season.
Lincoln Southeast didn't have too much breathing room in their matchup against the Bearcats when the teams last played back in December of 2023, but they still walked away with a 61-55 win. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Kearney's Ben Johnson, who scored 25 points along with seven rebounds. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Lincoln Southeast still be able to contain Johnson? There's only one way to find out.
