Basketball Game Preview: Valley Center Hornets vs. South Titans

The Valley Center Hornets will venture away from home to face off against the South Titans at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. Valley Center is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 63.3 points per game this season.

Valley Center is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Kansas' top teams: Derby, who was ranked eighth at the time (Valley Center was ranked 15th). Valley Center fell just short of Derby by a score of 68-66 on Tuesday. It was the first time this season that the Hornets let down their fans at home.

Austin Saner

Steals

01/07/25 vs Derby	4
01/03/25 vs Salina Central	1
12/20/24 @ South	2
12/17/24 vs Maize South	2
12/13/24 @ Andale	2

Despite the defeat, Valley Center had strong showings from Austin Saner, who went 7 of 11 en route to 20 points and four steals, and Colby J Newton, who went 5 of 8 on his way to 13 points and six assists. With that strong performance, Saner is now averaging an impressive 2.2 steals per game. The team also got some help courtesy of Bryson Saner, who posted nine points and six rebounds.

They weren't the only one working in the assists department: Valley Center was working as a unit and finished the game with 19 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.

Meanwhile, South suffered their closest loss since February 22, 2024 on Tuesday. They fell just short of East by a score of 36-33. The Titans have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.

Valley Center's defeat ended a four-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 5-1. As for South, their loss dropped their record down to 1-5.