Preview: South Bend Washington Panthers vs. South Bend Clay Colonials
South Bend Washington is 7-2 against South Bend Clay since January of 2015, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Thursday. The South Bend Washington Panthers will head out on the road to face off against the South Bend Clay Colonials at 7:30 p.m. Both teams come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
South Bend Washington had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 17 points), and they went ahead and made it three on Saturday. They came out on top against Goshen by a score of 58-45. That's two games straight that South Bend Washington has won by exactly 13 points.
Steven Reynolds 3 and Da'Kori Parker were among the main playmakers for South Bend Washington as the former scored 21 points along with 9 rebounds and 3 blocks and the latter scored 18 points along with 6 assists and 5 rebounds. That makes it three consecutive games in which Reynolds 3 has scored at least 25% of South Bend Washington's points. Another player making a difference was Donovan Johnson, who scored 9 points.
Meanwhile, even though Niles scored an imposing 57 points on Tuesday, South Bend Clay still came out on top. South Bend Clay took their contest against Niles 64-57. The win was just what South Bend Clay needed coming off of a 73-53 defeat in their prior match.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead South Bend Clay to victory, but perhaps none more so than Shaquille Edwards, who scored 14 points along with 4 steals. The game was Edwards' fourth in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Tyrese Jones, who dropped a double-double on 13 points and 12 rebounds.
South Bend Washington's victory lifted them to 3-1 while Goshen's defeat dropped them down to 1-2.
Keep an eye on the arc in Thursday's match: South Bend Washington have made nailing deep shots look easy this year this season, having only averaged 5.2 threes per game. It's a different story for South Bend Clay, though, as they've been averaging only 7.8 per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out. Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more basketball content.
Everything came up roses for South Bend Washington against South Bend Clay in their previous matchup back in December of 2022 as the team secured a 79-39 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for South Bend Washington since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
