Basketball Recap: Normal West Comes Up Short

Normal West was the 57-34 winner over East Peoria when they last played one another back in February of 2024, but their luck changed this time around. The Normal West Wildcats fell 59-49 to the East Peoria Raiders on Tuesday. While losing is never fun, the Wildcats can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 359th, while the Raiders are ranked 87th).

Michael Zaleski

Blocked Shots (Career)

02/11/25 @ East Peoria	2
01/31/25 vs Peoria	1
12/27/24 vs Harlem	1
12/13/24 vs Richwoods	1

When it comes to explaining why Normal West lost, don't look at Michael Zaleski. Despite the final result, he went 8-for-19 on his way to 22 points and five rebounds. The dominant performance also gave Zaleski a new career-high in blocks (two). Chase Sennett was another key player, putting up ten points.

Even though they lost, Normal West smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 15 offensive rebounds. That's the most offensive boards they've managed all season.

Normal West's defeat dropped their record down to 7-17. As for East Peoria, they are on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six contests, which provided a nice bump to their 20-7 record this season.

Normal West has already played their next matchup, a 67-38 loss against Manual on the 14th. As for East Peoria, they also wasted no time getting back out on the court and have already played their next game, a 56-51 defeat against Metamora on the 14th.