Preview: Centennial Broncos vs. Malcolm Clippers
The Centennial Broncos will head out on the road to face off against the Malcolm Clippers at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. Both teams come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
A well-balanced attack led Centennial over Heartland in every quarter on their way to victory on Tuesday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Centennial blew Heartland out of the water with a 57-23 final score. That looming 57-23 mark stands out as the most commanding margin for Centennial yet this season.
Devin Slawnyk was his usual excellent self, scoring 18 points along with two steals. Another player making a difference was Alex Hirschfeld, who almost dropped a double-double on ten points and nine rebounds.
Meanwhile, after only 24 points in their last game, Malcolm made sure to put some points up on the board against Nebraska City on Thursday. Everything went Malcolm's way against Nebraska City as Malcolm made off with a 60-38 victory. Given Malcolm's advantage in MaxPreps' Nebraska basketball rankings (they are ranked 55th, while Nebraska City is ranked 223rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Malcolm got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Maddox Meyer out in front who scored 15 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Carson Frank, who scored 12 points.
Centennial's victory bumped their record up to 12-8. As for Malcolm, they have been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five contests, which provided a nice bump to their 15-6 record this season.
Centennial didn't have too much breathing room in their match against Malcolm when the teams last played back in December of 2023, but they still walked away with a 53-49 victory. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Frank, who scored 25 points. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Centennial still be able to contain Frank? There's only one way to find out.