Basketball Game Preview: Van Buren Black Knights vs. Elmwood Royals

The Van Buren Black Knights will venture away from home to take on the Elmwood Royals at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Van Buren will be strutting in after a victory while Elmwood will be coming in after a loss.

Van Buren will head into Friday's game on the come-up: they were handed a 39-point defeat in their previous outing, but that didn't affect their clutch gene on Friday. They skirted past Leipsic 24-22.

Meanwhile, Elmwood was not able to break out of their rough patch on Saturday as the team picked up their fourth straight loss. They were outmatched by Delta and fell 63-33. While losing is never fun, the Royals can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 595th, while the Panthers are ranked 85th).

Van Buren has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four matches, which provided a massive bump to their 5-7 record this season. They've had to fight for that success though, as they only beat their opponents by an average of two points across that stretch. As for Elmwood, their defeat dropped their record down to 3-10.

Van Buren skirted past Elmwood 38-36 in their previous matchup back in February of 2024. The rematch might be a little tougher for Van Buren since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.