Basketball Game Preview: Speedway Sparkplugs vs. Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter Raiders

Speedway is 2-8 against Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter since December of 2015 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Speedway Sparkplugs will host the Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter Raiders at 7:30 p.m. Keep an eye on the score for this one: both posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.

Speedway came up into this matchup off a tough 31-point loss last Friday. This time they kept things ultra-competitive, but unfortunately the final result was the same. They fell just short of Crawfordsville by a score of 67-64 on Friday. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest defeat the Sparkplugs have suffered since February 9th.

Meanwhile, Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter had already won five in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 22.6 points) and they went ahead and made it six last Monday. The stars were shining brightly for them in a 76-60 win over the Hawks. While the Raiders didn't have the best season last year (they finished 9-14), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past.

Speedway better focus on containing Devin Bolden and Nathan Smith as the pair were huge in Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter's win. Bolden dropped a double-double on 24 points and 11 boards, while Smith almost dropped a double-double on 18 points and nine assists. The contest was Bolden's eighth in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Cheick Wade, who went 5 of 10 on his way to 14 points.

Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter was working as a unit and finished the game with 18 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Decatur Central only racked up ten assists.

Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter's victory bumped their record up to 6-2. As for Speedway, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 1-6.

Speedway came up short against Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter in their previous meeting back in December of 2023, falling 65-58. Will Speedway have more luck at home instead of on the road? Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other basketball content.