Basketball Recap: Prospedi Mukendi's Big Game Can't Quite Lead Lincoln Southeast over Millard North

After flying high against Lincoln High last Friday, Lincoln Southeast came back down to earth. The Lincoln Southeast Knights took a 71-58 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Millard North Mustangs on Tuesday. The Knights were not able to make up for their defeat to the Mustangs from their previous meeting back in December of 2022.

Prospedi Mukendi

Field Goal Percentage (Career)

02/18/25 @ Millard North	80%
12/13/24 vs Columbus	75%
01/07/25 vs Lincoln Northeast	71%
02/04/25 vs Papillion-LaVista	64%
02/14/25 @ Lincoln High	62%

Lincoln Southeast lost despite a true team effort on offense. The best among them was Prospedi Mukendi, who went 8-for-10 on his way to 17 points and five boards. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in field goal percentage (80%). Chewy Thoat was another key player, going 5-for-11 to rack up 16 points and seven rebounds.

Even though they lost, Lincoln Southeast smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 11 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 11 offensive rebounds in three consecutive games.

Derek Rollins continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines for Millard North, going 12-for-16 en route to 30 points along with eight boards and three blocks. Rollins is becoming a predictor of Millard North's success: when he posts at least 15 points the team is 14-2 (and 2-3 when he doesn't). The team also got some help courtesy of Amari Rahaman, who went 5-for-10 on his way to 12 points in addition to six assists and three steals.

Lincoln Southeast has been struggling recently as they've lost three of their last four matches. That's put a noticeable dent in their 13-8 record this season. Millard North pushed their record up to 16-5 with the win, which was their 17th straight at home dating back to last season.

Lincoln Southeast didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next contest, an 82-66 victory against Millard West on the 20th. As for Millard North, they will host Papillion-LaVista South at 7:15 p.m. on Friday. Papillion-LaVista South knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 55 points or more in their past 12 games -- so hopefully Millard North likes a good challenge.