Basketball Game Preview: Spearfish Spartans vs. Rapid City Central Cobblers

The Spearfish Spartans will square off against the Rapid City Central Cobblers at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Spearfish is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of South Dakota's top teams: St. Thomas More, who was ranked 12th at the time (Spearfish was ranked 23rd). Spearfish might be feeling deja-vu: they lost 43-41 to St. Thomas More, which was the same score (and result) they got the week prior. The Spartans have been going strong on the season, but this is now their second loss in a row.

Meanwhile, Rapid City 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 Saturday. Everything went their way against the Arrows as they made off with a 68-42 win. The Cobblers have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won three matchups by 22 points or more this season.

Spearfish's defeat dropped their record down to 7-4. As for Rapid City Central, the victory got them back to even at 5-5.

Spearfish came out on top in a nail-biter against Rapid City Central in their previous meeting back in January of 2024, sneaking past 47-44. The rematch might be a little tougher for Spearfish since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.