Basketball Game Preview: Appleton East Patriots vs. Onalaska Hilltoppers

The Appleton East Patriots will wrap up 2024 with a road trip to face off against the Onalaska Hilltoppers at 7:15 p.m. on Friday. Appleton East is coming into the matchup on a four-game losing streak.

Appleton East is coming in off a wild two-game stretch: after soaring to 61 points on Tuesday, they were much more limited against Neenah on Friday. They came up short against the Rockets, falling 53-29. While losing is never fun, the Patriots can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Wisconsin basketball rankings (they are ranked 158th, while the Rockets are ranked 49th).

Meanwhile, Onalaska came up short against Holmen on Thursday and fell 75-68. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on Tuesday (59), the Hilltoppers still had to take the loss.

This is the second loss in a row for Onalaska and nudges their season record down to 4-2. As for Appleton East, they now have a losing record at 3-4.