Basketball Game Preview: Russell Broncos vs. Ellinwood Eagles

The Russell Broncos will take on the Ellinwood Eagles at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Russell has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last four games.

Last Friday, Russell was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap as they fell 77-71 to Trego. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on Tuesday (64), the Broncos still had to take the loss.

Sam Thielen

Points (Career)

02/14/25 @ Trego	22
02/07/25 vs Oakley	18
12/14/24 vs Ellsworth	14
01/20/25 vs Hill City	13
01/14/25 @ Smith Center	13

Russell's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Sam Thielen, who posted 22 points, and Trey Carlson, who went 7-for-9 to rack up 17 points and five boards. The dominant performance gave Thielen a new career-high in points. Another player making a difference was Dominick Hernandez, who put up seven points in addition to six rebounds and three steals.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Ellinwood). They simply couldn't be stopped on Friday as they easily beat Kinsley 79-39.

Russell has traveled a rocky road recently having lost three of their last four matchups, which has put a noticeable dent in their 9-9 record this season. That patch can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 61.5 points over those games. As for Ellinwood, their victory bumped their record up to 10-8.

Russell came up short against Ellinwood in their previous meeting back in February of 2020, falling 71-63. Thankfully for Russell, Brit Dutton (who went 5-for-12 on his way to 21 points along with five boards and four steals) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.