Basketball Recap: Michael Zaleski's Big Game Can't Quite Lead Normal West over Peoria

Normal West lost against Peoria back in January of 2024 and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Friday. The Normal West Wildcats fell 47-38 to the Peoria Lions. While losing is never fun, the Wildcats can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 404th, while the Lions are ranked 30th).

Several Wildcats players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Michael Zaleski, who posted nine points. The team also got some help courtesy of Riley Larkin, who earned six points and six rebounds.

Normal West's defeat dropped their record down to 6-16. As for Peoria, the victory (which was their third in a row) raised their record to 19-6.

Normal West will take on El Paso-Gridley at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. El Paso-Gridley knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with 55 points or more in their past seven matchups -- so hopefully Normal West likes a good challenge. As for Peoria, they will face off against Galesburg at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday. Peoria is facing Galesburg at the right time seeing as Galesburg is stuck on a four-game losing streak.