Preview: Meadville Eagles vs. Grundy County/Newtown-Harris Panthers
The Meadville Eagles will be playing in front of their home fans against the Grundy County/Newtown-Harris Panthers at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Meadville has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 374 points over their last six matchups.
Meadville pushed their score all the way to 56 on Monday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They lost to Green City at home by a decisive 75-56 margin. While losing is never fun, Meadville can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Missouri basketball rankings (they are ranked 381st, while Green City is ranked 74th).
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Gauge Shiflett, who scored 14 points along with seven rebounds. Another player making a difference was Donivan Schreckhise, who scored 14 points.
Meanwhile, Grundy County/Newtown-Harris came tearing into Tuesday's contest with 11 straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 26.5 points) and they left with even more momentum. They took down Tri-County 62-48.
Grundy County/Newtown-Harris had a senior duo take command as Corbin Axtell dropped a double-double on 28 points and 17 rebounds and Zack Cross dropped a double-double on 23 points and 12 rebounds. Axtell is on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed two or more in the last four games he's played. Hunter Miller was another key contributor, scoring nine points along with six steals.
Meadville's loss dropped their record down to 12-11. As for Grundy County/Newtown-Harris, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 16 of their last 17 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 21-3 record this season.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Meadville have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 29.6 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Grundy County/Newtown-Harris struggles in that department as they've been averaging 33.8 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Meadville took a serious blow against Grundy County/Newtown-Harris in their previous meeting back in January, falling 70-41. That match was all but decided by halftime, at which point Meadville was down 47-10.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
