Basketball Recap: Nick Cardenas' Big Game Can't Quite Lead Hoopeston over Paxton-Buckley-Loda

It's hard to turn regular season success into postseason wins, a fact Hoopeston can now relate to. They fell 56-43 to the Paxton-Buckley-Loda Panthers on Wednesday. Unfortunately, that's the second time they've come up short against the Panthers this season, as they also lost their prior matchup 58-26 last Friday.

Several Cornjerkers players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Nick Cardenas, who posted 11 points. Another player making a difference was Brayden Walder, who had 11 points and three steals.

Even though they lost, Hoopeston was working as a unit and finished the game with ten assists. This was only their sixth loss (out of 25 games) when they've passed the ball that well.

Hoopeston's defeat ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 19-13. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 64.0 points over those games. As for Paxton-Buckley-Loda, their victory ended a six-game drought on the road and puts them at 14-14.

As of now, neither Hoopeston nor Paxton-Buckley-Loda have any future games scheduled.