Basketball Game Preview: New Prairie Cougars vs. South Bend St. Joseph Huskies

New Prairie hasn't had much luck against South Bend St. Joseph recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The New Prairie Cougars will be playing in front of their home fans against the South Bend St. Joseph Huskies at 7:30 p.m. Both come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

It was a proper cat-fight when New Prairie faced off against Wheeler on Tuesday. New Prairie was the clear victors by a 54-34 margin over Wheeler. The Cougars haven't had any issues with the Bearcats recently, as the game was their ninth consecutive victory against them.

Brody Wiginton

Points

02/18/25 @ Wheeler	23
02/14/25 @ South Bend Adams	14
02/11/25 vs Bremen	13
02/08/25 @ South Bend Washington	11
02/06/25 @ Elkhart	6
+ 15 more games

New Prairie found their leader in sophomore Brody Wiginton, who dropped a double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Wiginton continues to improve, besting his previous point total in each of the last four games he's played. Another player making a difference was Jaydon Clemons, who went 5-for-8 en route to 10 points and seven boards.

Meanwhile, South Bend St. Joseph hadn't done well against Mishawaka Marian recently (they were 2-7 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Friday. South Bend St. Joseph narrowly escaped with a win as the team sidled past Mishawaka Marian 57-54. Given the Huskies' advantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 16th, while the Knights are ranked 96th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

South Bend St. Joseph's win came from a few key players New Prairie will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Nick Shrewsberry, who went 7-for-10 to rack up 20 points. Thanks to that strong game, he now owns an excellent 45.1% shooting accuracy. The team also got some help courtesy of Ethan Roseman, who posted ten points and six assists.

South Bend St. Joseph's victory bumped their record up to 17-3. As for New Prairie, their win bumped their record up to 4-16.

New Prairie took a serious blow against South Bend St. Joseph in their previous meeting back in January of 2024, falling 69-32. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of South Bend St. Joseph's Chase Konieczny, who went 6-for-9 from beyond the arc on his way to 32 points in addition to eight rebounds and three steals. Now that New Prairie knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.