Basketball Game Preview: Rock Hills Grizzlies vs. St. John's/Tipton Catholic Blujays

Rock Hills is 2-8 against St. John's/Tipton Catholic since December of 2017 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Rock Hills Grizzlies will head out to take on the St. John's/Tipton Catholic Blujays at 7:00 p.m. Rock Hills is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 53.3 points per game this season.

Last Friday, Rock Hills came up short against Red Cloud and fell 59-52. The Grizzlies have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.

The match pitted two dominant guards against one another in Cooper McDill and Gage Ely. Ely had a solid game and dropped a double-double on 16 points and ten boards. Meanwhile, McDill did his best for the losing side, putting up 14 points along with eight boards and six assists.

Meanwhile, St. John's/Tipton Catholic lost to Lincoln on the road by a 54-37 margin back in December of 2024. The game marked the Blujays' lowest-scoring match so far this season.

Rock Hills will have to contain Edward Horinek as he made an impact in St. John's/Tipton Catholic's last game. He went 8 of 20 on his way to 19 points and six steals. That was a full 51.4% of St. John's/Tipton Catholic's points, marking the third time in a row he's posted more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Ryder Allen, who put up six points in addition to seven boards and three steals.

Rock Hills' loss dropped their record down to 3-3. As for St. John's/Tipton Catholic, their defeat dropped their record down to an identical 3-3.

Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Rock Hills has crashing the boards this season, having averaged 26.5 boards per game. However, it's not like St. John's/Tipton Catholic struggles in that department as they've been averaging 27.8 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.

Rock Hills ended up a good deal behind St. John's/Tipton Catholic in their previous matchup back in January of 2024, losing 58-42. Can Rock Hills avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.