Basketball Game Preview: Central Plains Oilers vs. Macksville Mustangs

The Central Plains Oilers will challenge the Macksville Mustangs at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with Central Plains sitting on three straight victories and Macksville on four.

Central Plains' tournament run continued when they took on Little River on Thursday. Central Plains blew past Little River 52-30. The Oilers have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won five matches by 20 points or more this season.

Meanwhile, Macksville posted their closest win since December 14, 2024 on Friday. They had just enough and edged St. John out 56-53. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest victory the Mustangs have posted against the Tigers since February 19, 2021.

Macksville's win came from a few key players Central Plains will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Diego Esparza, who posted 25 points and seven steals. The game was his 20th in a row with at least ten points. Hector Gomez was another key player, putting up 14 points along with eight boards and four steals.

Central Plains has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven contests, which provided a nice bump to their 9-2 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 53.1 points per game. As for Macksville, their win bumped their record up to 10-2.

Central Plains skirted past Macksville 53-50 in their previous matchup two weeks ago. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Esparza, who went 12 for 28 on his way to 31 points and seven steals. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Central Plains still be able to contain Esparza? There's only one way to find out.