Basketball Game Preview: Eads Eagles vs. Prairie Mustangs

The Eads Eagles just played yesterday, but they'll still head out to face the Prairie Mustangs at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. Eads is coming into the match on a three-game losing streak.

On Friday, Eads came up short against Granada and fell 52-44. The Eagles were down 40-19 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from.

Case Nelson

Rebounds

12/14/24 vs Elkhart	14
02/07/25 vs Granada	10
12/20/24 vs Springfield	10
12/06/24 @ Hi-Plains	10
02/01/25 @ Kim/Branson	9
+ 9 more games

The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Case Nelson, who posted seven points in addition to ten boards and four steals. He is becoming a predictor of Eads' success: when he posts at least ten rebounds the team is 3-1 (and 3-8 when he doesn't). Kadan Dunlap was another key player, putting up 13 points.

Meanwhile, Prairie hadn't done well against Briggsdale recently (they were 0-9 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Tuesday. Prairie walked away with a 51-41 win over Briggsdale.

Prairie found their leader in sophomore Hunter Johnson, who went 6 for 10 en route to 19 points and eight boards. Johnson is also on a roll when it comes to shooting accuracy, as he's posted one of at least 45% in the last three games he's played. Lane Schock also deserves some recognition as he posted his first blocks of the season.

Prairie is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four contests, which provided a massive bump to their 7-9 record this season. A key ingredient in that success has been their performance when it comes to three-point shooting accuracy: their three-point shooting accuracy was 38.9% in those games and 22.7% outside of them. As for Eads, their loss dropped their record down to 6-9.

Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Eads has been crashing the boards this season, having averaged 30.5 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Prairie struggles in that department as they've been averaging 28 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge Check back here after the action for a full breakdown and analysis of the contest.