Basketball Game Preview: Mountain Iron-Buhl Rangers vs. Cass Lake-Bena Panthers

The Mountain Iron-Buhl Rangers will face off against the Cass Lake-Bena Panthers at 5:45 p.m. on Monday. Mountain Iron-Buhl is coming into the contest hot, having won their last 13 games.

Last Thursday, Mountain Iron-Buhl beat Ely 69-59. Given the Rangers' advantage in MaxPreps' Minnesota basketball rankings (they are ranked 70th, while the Timberwolves are ranked 205th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Cass Lake-Bena, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Thursday. They walked away with a 74-67 win over Sacred Heart on Saturday. The Panthers' offense checked out after the first half but had enough points banked to take the game anyway.

Mountain Iron-Buhl pushed their record up to 13-1 with the victory, which was their 11th straight on the road dating back to last season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 84.0 points per game. As for Cass Lake-Bena, they have been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five games, which provided a nice bump to their 8-5 record this season.

Mountain Iron-Buhl didn't have too much breathing room in their matchup against Cass Lake-Bena when the teams last played back in December of 2024, but they still walked away with a 68-63 win. Does Mountain Iron-Buhl have another victory up their sleeve, or will Cass Lake-Bena turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.