Preview: Kenton Wildcats vs. Shawnee Indians
Kenton is 1-9 against Shawnee since January of 2015 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Kenton Wildcats will head out on the road to square off against the Shawnee Indians at 7:30 p.m. Both teams come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Kenton had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 6.5 points), and they went ahead and made it three on Saturday. They were the clear victor by a 60-34 margin over Perry.
Meanwhile, Shawnee didn't have too much trouble with Botkins at home on Saturday as they won 59-45. Given Shawnee's advantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 109th, while Botkins is ranked 266th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Shawnee to victory, but perhaps none more so than Trevick Bertke, who scored 17 points along with seven rebounds and four steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Beckett Bertke, who dropped a double-double on 17 points and 12 rebounds.
Kenton pushed their record up to 11-8 with that win, which was their third straight at home. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 64.7 points per game. As for Shawnee, they are on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last nine matches, which provided a nice bump to their 12-6 record this season.
Kenton took a serious blow against Shawnee when the teams last played back in February of 2023, falling 77-43. Can Kenton avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
