Preview: Crystal Lake Central Tigers vs. Central Rockets
Crystal Lake Central is 1-8 against Central since December of 2019 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Crystal Lake Central Tigers will be staying on the road to face off against the Central Rockets at 7:30 p.m. on January 19th. Crystal Lake Central will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Illinois Rankings (they are ranked 567th, while Central is ranked 158th).
Crystal Lake Central suffered their biggest loss yet this season on Tuesday. They were outmatched by Crystal Lake South on the road and fell 85-41. The defeat unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for Crystal Lake Central in their matchups with Crystal Lake South: they've now lost seven in a row.
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the most dominant came from Jj Parrish, who scored six points. Rhett Ozment was another key contributor, scoring eight points.
Meanwhile, Central had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 30 points), and they went ahead and made it three on Wednesday. They came out on top against Jacobs by a score of 64-52.
Central got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Jacob Johnson out in front who scored 16 points along with two steals. Johnson has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last six times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Caden West, who scored 11 points along with two steals.
Crystal Lake Central's defeat was their third straight on the road, which bumped their record down to 5-16. As for Central, their victory bumped their record up to 13-6.
Friday's game is shaping up to be a masterclass in shooting: Crystal Lake Central have been dynamite from deep this season, having nailed 38.1% of their threes per game. However, it's not like Central struggles in that department as they've nailed 43.3% of their threes per game this season. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Crystal Lake Central suffered a grim 51-28 defeat to Central in their previous meeting back in November of 2023. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Johnson, who dropped a double-double on 17 points and 15 rebounds. Now that Crystal Lake Central knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
