Basketball Game Preview: Pender Pendragons vs. Elkhorn Valley Falcons

Pendragons

Points

02/11/25 @ Guardian Angels Central Catholic	48
02/08/25 vs Bancroft-Rosalie	47
02/07/25 vs Howells-Dodge	42
02/04/25 vs Tekamah-Herman	74
01/28/25 vs Tri County Northeast	64
+ 18 more games

The Pender Pendragons will challenge the Elkhorn Valley Falcons at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. Pender is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 53.3 points per game this season.

Pender will bounce into Friday's matchup after beating Guardian Angels Central Catholic, who they had gone 1-6 against in their seven prior meetings. Pender walked away with a 48-36 win over Guardian Angels Central Catholic last Tuesday.

Alex Roth was a one-man wrecking crew for Pender as he dropped a double-double with 19 points and 11 boards. Ryan Krueger was another key player, putting up eight points and ten rebounds.

Pender smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least nine offensive boards in 14 consecutive games.

Meanwhile, Elkhorn Valley was not able to break out of their rough patch on Saturday as the team picked up their third straight defeat. They took a hard 59-45 fall against Pierce.

Pender will have to keep a close watch on Kellyn Ollendick and Korbin Werner, a pair of players who had a big impact on Elkhorn Valley's prior game. Ollendick went 11-for-19 on his way to 25 points and three steals, while Werner went 7-for-12 en route to 18 points in addition to seven assists and six boards. That was a full 55.6% of Elkhorn Valley's points, marking the third time in a row Ollendick has posted more than a third of the team's points.

Pender pushed their record up to 19-4 with the victory, which was their ninth straight on the road. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 55.1 points over those games. As for Elkhorn Valley, their loss dropped their record down to 13-7.

Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Pender has been crashing the boards this season, having averaged 33.3 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Elkhorn Valley struggles in that department as they've been averaging 29.4 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more basketball content.