Basketball Recap: Centralia Now 19-1 over Last 20 Games

There's no place like home for Centralia, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Friday. They walked away with a 69-60 win over the Meridian Bobcats on Saturday. Given the Orphans' advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 23rd, while the Bobcats are ranked 208th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Despite the loss, Meridian still got an impressive performance from AJ Flenoid, who dropped a double-double with 21 points and 18 boards. The matchup was Flenoid's third in a row with at least 19 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Max Russell, who posted 12 points.

Centralia has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 19 of their last 20 contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 25-4 record this season. Meridian's defeat ended a four-game streak of away wins and brought them to 22-7.

Centralia didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next game, a 57-26 victory against Carbondale on the 21st. As for Meridian, they have also already played their next match, an 84-51 loss against Columbia on the 20th.