Preview: Lyons-Decatur Northeast Cougars vs. East Butler Tigers
The Lyons-Decatur Northeast Cougars will head out on the road to square off against the East Butler Tigers on Friday. Hopefully Lyons-Decatur Northeast focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 12 on Tuesday.
Even though Wisner-Pilger scored an imposing 61 points, Lyons-Decatur Northeast still came out on top. Lyons-Decatur Northeast skirted past Wisner-Pilger 63-61. The score was all tied up 26-26 at the break, but Lyons-Decatur Northeast was the better team in the second half.
Lyons-Decatur Northeast's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Braden Hardin, who scored 21 points along with five assists and five rebounds. Hardin continues to roll, besting his previous point total in each of the last three games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Brayden Hegge, who almost dropped a double-double on 23 points and nine rebounds.
Meanwhile, East Butler's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Tuesday after their third straight loss. They took a serious blow against Cross County, falling 89-56. East Butler has struggled against Cross County recently, as their matchup on Tuesday was their eighth consecutive lost matchup.
Lyons-Decatur Northeast is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four matchups, which provided a massive bump to their 7-11 record this season. As for East Butler, their defeat was their third straight at home, which dropped their record down to 8-10.
Lyons-Decatur Northeast couldn't quite finish off East Butler when the teams last played back in February of 2023 and fell 53-50. Can Lyons-Decatur Northeast avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
