Preview: Anderson Indians vs. Kokomo Wildkats
The Anderson Indians will head out on the road to challenge the Kokomo Wildkats at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Anderson came tearing into Saturday's match with three straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 17.7 points) and they left with even more momentum. They took their contest on the road with ease, bagging a 64-30 victory over Muncie Central. Given Anderson's advantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 20th, while Muncie Central is ranked 148th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Damien King was his usual excellent self, scoring 22 points along with five rebounds and four steals. He is on a roll when it comes to points, as he's now scored 17 or more in the last 16 games he's played. Javon Warfield was another key contributor, scoring 15 points along with six rebounds.
Meanwhile, Kokomo came tearing into Saturday's contest with nine straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 24.4 points) and they left with even more momentum. They really took it to Lebanon for the full four quarters, racking up a 72-39 win on the road. Kokomo pushed the score to 54-26 by the end of the third, a deficit Lebanon had little chance of recovering from.
Kokomo can attribute much of their success to Flory Bidunga, who scored 21 points along with six rebounds and five assists, and Karson Rogers, who almost dropped a double-double on 23 points and nine rebounds. Bidunga is crushing the block category: he's posted at least two every time he's taken the court this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Baris Moore, who scored eight points along with three steals.
Kokomo's lineup was just a bit different on Saturday as A'dayveon Young got a bit more time on the court (25 vs. his season average of 10.42). Young made the most of the opportunity, scoring eight points. A few more games like that and he might be seeing even more time going forward.
Anderson has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won eight of their last nine matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 18-4 record this season. As for Kokomo, they pushed their record up to 19-3 with that victory, which was their 17th straight on the road dating back to last season.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as the two teams are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Anderson hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 58 points per game. However, it's not like Kokomo struggles in that department as they've been averaging 71 points per game. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Anderson lost to Kokomo on the road by a decisive 69-52 margin in their previous meeting back in February of 2023. Can Anderson avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
