Ellinwood and Macksville are an even 5-5 against one another since January of 2016, but not for long. The Ellinwood Eagles will head out on the road to challenge the Macksville Mustangs at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Ellinwood knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with 55 points or more in their past three matches -- so hopefully Macksville likes a good challenge.
Last Tuesday, Ellinwood didn't have too much trouble with St. John as they won 63-44.
| 01/14/25 vs St. John | 6 |
| 01/10/25 vs Chase | 2 |
| 12/20/24 vs Ellis | 3 |
Ellinwood's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Landon Simpson, who went 11 for 17 en route to 26 points along with six boards and six steals, and Drake Hosman, who went 8 of 11 on his way to 20 points. Simpson has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last three times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Campbell Coleman, who posted six points in addition to five assists and five rebounds.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Macksville). They claimed a resounding 97-24 win over Chase. Given the Mustangs' advantage in MaxPreps' Kansas basketball rankings (they are ranked 70th, while the Kats are ranked 338th), the result on Tuesday wasn't entirely unexpected.
Ellinwood better keep an eye on Diego Esparza. He was instrumental in Macksville's win, almost dropping a triple-double on 23 points, 11 assists, and nine steals. The dominant performance gave Esparza a new career-high in steals. Another player making a difference was Nolan Adams, who went 12 of 16 on his way to 26 points and eight boards.
Macksville pushed their record up to 7-2 with the victory, which was their sixth straight at home dating back to last season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 68.8 points per game. As for Ellinwood, their record is now 5-3.
Ellinwood came up short against Macksville in their previous meeting back in January of 2024, falling 52-47. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Esparza, who earned 29 points and five rebounds. Now that Ellinwood knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
