Basketball Game Preview: Peotone Blue Devils vs. Wilmington Wildcats

Peotone is 2-8 against Wilmington since January of 2020 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Peotone Blue Devils will host the Wilmington Wildcats at 6:45 p.m. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.

On Tuesday, Peotone was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap as they fell 62-58 to Manteno.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Wilmington). They strolled past Lisle with points to spare on Friday, taking the game 69-54. The win was nothing new for the Wildcats as they're now sitting on four straight.

Wilmington's win came from a few key players Peotone will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Lucas Rink, who went 8 for 15 to rack up 21 points. He is also on a roll when it comes to field goal percentage, as he's posted one of at least 45% in the last four games he's played. Ryan Nelson was another key player, almost dropping a double-double with 17 points and nine boards.

Wilmington smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 13 offensive boards. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their offensive board total in four consecutive contests.

Wilmington pushed their record up to 17-8 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 58.7 points over those games. As for Peotone, they now have a losing record at 12-13.

Peotone came up short against Wilmington when the teams last played back in January, falling 46-42. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Rink, who shot 5-for-9 from downtown and almost dropped a double-double with 22 points and nine rebounds. Now that Peotone knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.