Recap: Lincoln Southwest Silver Hawks vs. Norfolk Panthers
The Lincoln Southwest Silver Hawks had already won four in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 14.3 points), and they went ahead and made it five on Friday. Everything went their way against Norfolk as Lincoln Southwest made off with a 65-43 win. Given Lincoln Southwest's advantage in MaxPreps' Nebraska basketball rankings (they are ranked 47th, while Norfolk is ranked 178th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Braden Frager was his usual excellent self, scoring 14 points along with five rebounds and four steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Reid Nagel, who scored four points along with five rebounds and four steals.
Norfolk lost despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Landon Viergutz, who scored eight points. Another player making a difference was Easton Sullivan, who scored 14 points.
Lincoln Southwest's win was their fifth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 12-6. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 70.4 points per game. As for Norfolk, they have not been sharp recently as the team has lost five of their last six games, which put a noticeable dent in their 6-14 record this season.
Lincoln Southwest won't have much time to rest: their next match is against Lincoln North Star at 7:30 p.m. on February 10th. Lincoln North Star knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with flashy point totals in its past six contests -- so hopefully Lincoln Southwest likes a good challenge. As for Norfolk, they will be playing at home against Lincoln High at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Hopefully Norfolk focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 16 on Friday.