Basketball Game Preview: Crawfordsville Athenians vs. Cascade Cadets

The Crawfordsville Athenians will take on the Cascade Cadets at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both will really light up the scoreboard.

Crawfordsville is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 67-64 victory over Speedway on Friday. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Athenians.

Crawfordsville got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Alec Saidian out in front who went 6 of 11 en route to 14 points along with six rebounds and five steals. With that strong performance, Saidian is now averaging an impressive 3 steals per game. The team also got some help courtesy of Johnovan Smith, who went 5 for 8 on his way to 17 points in addition to five assists and five steals.

Meanwhile, Cascade came up short against Paoli on Saturday and fell 67-55. While losing is never fun, the Cadets can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 253rd, while the Rams are ranked 81st).

Cascade has traveled a rocky road recently having lost four of their last five games, which put a noticeable dent in their 3-5 record this season. Those losses can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 55.4 points per game. As for Crawfordsville, their victory ended a six-game drought at home dating back to last season and bumped them up to 2-6.