Preview: Hesston Swathers vs. Larned Indians
Hesston is 9-1 against Larned since January of 2015, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The Hesston Swathers will head out on the road to challenge the Larned Indians at 7:30 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Hesston has five straight victories, Larned has four straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Hesston put the finishing touches on their ninth blowout victory of the season on Tuesday. They blew past Halstead 64-30 at home. Given Hesston's advantage in MaxPreps' Kansas basketball rankings (they are ranked 19th, while Halstead is ranked 275th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Reed Friesen and Adrian Hernandez were among the main playmakers for Hesston as the former dropped a double-double on 17 points and 15 rebounds and the latter scored 23 points along with six rebounds and two steals. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Hernandez has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Jackson Fry, who scored eight points along with five assists.
Meanwhile, Larned lost to Hillsboro at home by a decisive 52-36 margin on Tuesday.
Hesston has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won eight of their last nine matches, which provided a nice bump to their 14-2 record this season. As for Larned, they have not been sharp recently as the team's lost five of their last six matchups, which put a noticeable dent in their 2-11-2 record this season.
Everything came up roses for Hesston against Larned when the teams last played back in February of 2023 as the team secured a 67-18 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Hesston since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
