Basketball Game Preview: Grundy County/Newtown-Harris Panthers vs. Mercer Cardinals

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Previous Games

02/23/24 - Neutral	50-27 W
02/12/24 - Away	57-42 W
02/09/24 - Home	65-26 W
01/25/24 - Neutral	66-50 W
02/06/23 - Home	70-48 W
+ 2 more games

Grundy County/Newtown-Harris is 7-0 against Mercer since December of 2022 and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The Grundy County/Newtown-Harris Panthers just played last yesterday, but they'll still welcome the Mercer Cardinals at 7:00 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Grundy County/Newtown-Harris has three straight wins, Mercer has three straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the court.

Grundy County/Newtown-Harris is headed into the contest after thoroughly thrashing East Harrison [Ridgeway/Cainsville]: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Grundy County/Newtown-Harris blew East Harrison [Ridgeway/Cainsville] out of the water with a 53-22 final score. The match was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point the Panthers had established a 29 point advantage.

Grundy County/Newtown-Harris had a senior duo take command as Hunter Miller dropped a double-double on 19 points and ten boards and Kaleb Bower dropped a double-double on 13 points and ten rebounds. That makes it ten consecutive games in which Miller has scored at least a third of Grundy County/Newtown-Harris' points. The team also got some help courtesy of Mason Rayl, who posted five points and six boards.

Grundy County/Newtown-Harris smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 24 offensive rebounds. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their offensive board total in four consecutive games.

Meanwhile, Mercer lost 67-45 to Gilman City on Tuesday.

Grundy County/Newtown-Harris' victory was their 11th straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 8-6. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 60.5 points per game. As for Mercer, their defeat dropped their record down to 3-7.

Grundy County/Newtown-Harris took their win against Mercer in their previous meeting back in February of 2024 by a conclusive 50-27. Does Grundy County/Newtown-Harris have another victory up their sleeve, or will Mercer turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.