Preview: Normal West Wildcats vs. Centennial Chargers
The Normal West Wildcats will head out on the road to face off against the Centennial Chargers at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Hopefully Normal West focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 16 on Tuesday.
Normal West fought the good fight in their overtime game against St. Joseph-Ogden but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell just short of the Spartans by a score of 57-55. While losing is never fun, Normal West can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 298th, while St. Joseph-Ogden is ranked 48th).
Nate Moore put forth a good effort for the losing side as he scored 29 points. Moore is absolutely dominating the steal category: he's posted at least two every time he's taken the court this season. Another player making a difference was AJ Austin, who scored 7 points.
Even though Centennial has not done well against Bloomington recently (they were 2-7 in their previous nine matchups), they didn't let the past get in their way on Friday. Centennial blew past Bloomington, posting a 84-41 victory on the road. The victory was just what Centennial needed coming off of a 59-32 loss in their prior contest.
Richwoods' win bumped their season record to 0-0 while Normal West's defeat dropped theirs to 2-3.
Normal West strolled past Centennial in their previous matchup back in February by a score of 71-52. The rematch might be a little tougher for Normal West since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
