Basketball Recap: Celina Victorious

Celina proved they can win big on Friday (they won by 27) and on Tuesday they proved they can win the close ones too. They escaped with a win against the Richland Raiders by the margin of a single free throw, 63-62. This was a revenge game for the Bobcats: when they faced off against the Raiders back in January, they had to take a 49-42 defeat.

Richland's loss came despite strong showings from Kaiden Smith and Mike Barnes. Smith went 6-for-12 en route to 17 points, while Barnes shot 78% from the field on his way to 20 points. Jacob Battles II was another key player, putting up 11 points and five boards.

Bobcats

Previous 4 Games (Away)

02/17/26 @ Richland	63-62
02/06/26 @ Lake Dallas	60-43
01/30/26 @ Aubrey	64-45
01/20/26 @ Sanger	49-43

Celina pushed their record up to 21-14 with the victory, which was their fourth straight on the road. The road wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 59.0 points over those games. As for Richland, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 17-15.

Celina does not have any more games scheduled as of now. As for Richland, they will challenge Gainesville at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The Raiders will be up against the Leopards' rather soft defense (which has allowed 54.19 points per matchup), so fans could be in store for a big offensive performance.