Basketball Game Preview: Chisago Lakes Area Wildcats vs. Monticello Magic

Chisago Lakes Area and Monticello are an even 5-5 against one another since February of 2021, but not for long. The Chisago Lakes Area Wildcats will be playing at home against the Monticello Magic at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The squads are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Chisago Lakes Area has struggled recently with nine losses in a row, while Monticello will arrive with ten straight victories.

It's never fun to lose, and it's even less fun to lose 82-55, which was the final score in Chisago Lakes Area's tilt against Becker on Thursday. While losing is never fun, the Wildcats can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Minnesota basketball rankings (they are ranked 382nd, while the Bulldogs are ranked 173rd).

Zimmerman typically has all the answers at home, but on Thursday Monticello proved too difficult a challenge. They strolled past the Thunder with points to spare, taking the game 77-61.

Monticello pushed their record up to 15-3 with the win, which was their ninth straight on the road. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 80.2 points per game. As for Chisago Lakes Area, their defeat dropped their record down to 1-14.

Chisago Lakes Area was taken down by Monticello 107-40 in their previous meeting back in December of 2024. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Monticello's Jackson Soroko, who dropped a double-double on 25 points and 12 boards. Now that Chisago Lakes Area knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.