Basketball Recap: Maliq Givens-Smith Key Part of a Team Effort in Wildcats Win

On Saturday, the Normal West Wildcats didn't have too much breathing room in their contest against the El Paso-Gridley Titans, but they still walked away with a 53-49 victory. The win was all the more spectacular given the Wildcats' disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 364th, while the Titans are ranked 125th).

Normal West's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Maliq Givens-Smith, who dropped a double-double on 18 points and ten boards. That's the most rebounds Givens-Smith has posted since back in December of 2024. Another player making a difference was Michael Zaleski, who posted 15 points and five boards.

Normal West was working as a unit and finished the game with 16 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.

Normal West has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 7-16 record this season. As for El Paso-Gridley, they moved to 17-6 with that loss, which also ended their five-game winning streak.

Normal West will get to enjoy the win for a while: their next game is against East Peoria at 7:00 p.m. on February 11th. As for El Paso-Gridley, they will challenge Eureka at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.