Basketball Game Preview: Centralia Orphans vs. Meridian Bobcats

Centralia is on a 13-game streak of home wins, while Meridian is on a four-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. Having just played yesterday, the Centralia Orphans will get right back to it and host the Meridian Bobcats at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.

On Friday, Centralia came up short against Marion and fell 70-60.

Meanwhile, Meridian beat Madison 73-63 last Friday. Given the Bobcats' advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 208th, while the Trojans are ranked 417th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Centralia better keep an eye on AJ Flenoid. He was instrumental in Meridian's win, dropping a double-double with 37 points and 30 rebounds. The dominant performance gave Flenoid a new career-high in points. Colin Monan was another key player, putting up 15 points in addition to six assists and three steals.

Meridian is on a roll lately: they've won 12 of their last 13 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 22-6 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 77.2 points over those games. As for Centralia, their loss dropped their record down to 24-4.