Basketball Game Preview: St. Marys Bears vs. Royal Valley Panthers

The St. Marys Bears will head out on the road to face off against the Royal Valley Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. St. Marys will be coming into the matchup with an undefeated record on the line.

If St. Marys beats Royal Valley with 65 points on Friday, it's going to be the team's new lucky number: they've won their past two contests with that exact score. St. Marys strolled past Perry-Lecompton with points to spare on Tuesday, taking the game 65-46. Given the Bears' advantage in MaxPreps' Kansas basketball rankings (they are ranked 20th, while the Kaws are ranked 245th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, Royal Valley had to suffer through a 65-35 loss at the hands of Nemaha Central. The Panthers have struggled against the Thunder recently, as the game was their third consecutive lost matchup.

St. Marys pushed their record up to 7-0 with the win, which was their fifth straight at home dating back to last season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 69.8 points per game. As for Royal Valley, they now have a losing record at 2-3-2.

St. Marys came out on top in a nail-biter against Royal Valley when the teams last played back in December of 2020, sneaking past 52-49. Will St. Marys repeat their success, or does Royal Valley have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.