Basketball Game Preview: Africentric Early College Nubians vs. Northland Vikings

The Africentric Early College Nubians will square off against the Northland Vikings at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both teams are coming into the matchup red-hot, with Africentric Early College sitting on 20 straight victories and Northland on ten.

Last Friday, everything came up roses for Africentric Early College against Briggs as the team secured a 67-35 win. The Nubians have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won ten games by 21 points or more this season.

Meanwhile, Northland didn't have too much trouble with Linden-McKinley on Friday as they won 55-36. Given the Vikings' advantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 143rd, while the Panthers are ranked 583rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Northland's win came from a few key players Africentric Early College will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Diante James, who went 5 of 11 to rack up 22 points along with seven assists and four steals. He has been hot for a while, having posted two or more steals the last ten times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Nehemiah McMorris, who went 9 for 19 en route to 22 points and seven rebounds.

Northland pushed their record up to 16-3 with the victory, which was their seventh straight at home. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 70.9 points over those games. As for Africentric Early College, their record is now 20-1.

Africentric Early College couldn't quite finish off Northland in their previous matchup back in February of 2023 and fell 60-58. Can Africentric Early College avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.