Basketball Game Preview: Southwest Roughriders vs. Bertrand Vikings

The Southwest Roughriders will head out on the road to take on the Bertrand Vikings at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.

On Tuesday, Southwest was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap as they fell 47-42 to Hi-Line [Eustis-Farnam/Elwood]. The Roughriders haven't had much luck with Hi-Line [Eustis-Farnam/Elwood] recently, as the team's come up short the last five times they've met.

Meanwhile, Bertrand waltzed into their game on Saturday with three straight wins... but they left with four. They walked away with a 60-51 win over South Loup. 60 seems to be a good number for the Vikings as the squad scooped up a victory with the same number of points in their previous game.

Bertrand's win came from a few key players Southwest will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Thunder Nelson, who dropped a double-double on 16 points and 13 boards. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in boards. Another player making a difference was Marcus Hernandez, who posted 15 points and six rebounds.

Bertrand pushed their record up to 9-4 with the win, which was their third straight on the road. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 61.7 points per game. As for Southwest, their loss ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 4-8.

Southwest came up short against Bertrand in their previous matchup back in January of 2024, falling 47-40. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Nelson, who went 8 of 15 on his way to 22 points and four steals. Now that Southwest knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.