Preview: Piper Pirates vs. Andover Central Jaguars
Piper has enjoyed a three-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will face off against the Andover Central Jaguars at 4:45 p.m. on Thursday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Last Tuesday, Piper beat De Soto 73-65. The victory was all the more spectacular given Piper's disadvantage in MaxPreps' Kansas basketball rankings (they are ranked 46th, while De Soto is ranked sixth).
Meanwhile, Andover Central had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 22.5 points), and they went ahead and made it three on Friday. They walked away with a 64-51 win over Arkansas City.
Andover Central's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Brody DeGarmo led the charge by scoring 11 points along with five rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Jayden Brown, who scored 12 points along with two steals.
Piper's victory was their eighth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 7-1. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 69.5 points per game. As for Andover Central, they now have a winning record of 4-3.
Piper came up short against Andover Central when the teams last played back in March of 2018, falling 68-60. Can Piper avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
