Basketball Recap: St. Mary's Piles Up the Points Against North Central

Cardinals

Margin (Wins)

12/17/24 @ Neligh-Oakdale	64
01/23/25 vs Winside	57
02/01/25 vs North Central	42
12/05/24 vs Randolph	37
12/10/24 vs Niobrara/Verdigre	36

St. Mary won the last time they faced North Central and things went their way on Saturday too. The St. Mary's Cardinals simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat the North Central Knights 72-30. The Cardinals have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 11 contests by 21 points or more this season.

St. Mary's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but James Eby led the charge by going 7 of 9 on his way to 17 points. The dominant performance gave Eby a new career-high in points. Ben Barlow was another key player, putting up 11 points along with six rebounds and five assists.

St. Mary's was working as a unit and finished the game with 23 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.

St. Mary's has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six matches, which provided a nice bump to their 14-4 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 67.7 points per game. As for North Central, with the loss, they broke their four-game winning streak and moved their record to 6-11.

Both squads are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. St. Mary's will have some time to savor their win since their next game is a little ways off: they'll take on Boyd County at 8:00 p.m. on February 11th. North Central will also get a bit of a break before their next game: they'll face off against Colome at 8:00 p.m. on February 11th.