Basketball Recap: Cross County's Higher State Rank on Full Display on Saturday

Cross County won against Sutton last Thursday with 58 points and they decided to stick to that point total again on Saturday. The Cross County Cougars took down the Heartland Huskies 58-39. Given the Cougars' advantage in MaxPreps' Nebraska basketball rankings (they are ranked 44th, while the Huskies are ranked 189th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Cross County can attribute much of their success to Sawyer Anderson, who went 5 for 7 on his way to 12 points in addition to five rebounds and four steals. With that strong performance, Anderson is now averaging an impressive 2.1 steals per game. The team also got some help courtesy of Thatcher Hanson, who posted eight points and six assists.

Cross County was working as a unit and finished the game with 18 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Heartland only racked up ten assists.

Several Huskies players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Thane Wetjen, who put up ten points in addition to six boards and three steals. Another player making a difference was Luis Alvarez, who posted ten points.

Cross County has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six games, which provided a nice bump to their 9-2 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 60.3 points per game. As for Heartland, they are on a four-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 2-8.

Cross County will venture away from home to challenge Twin River at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. As for Heartland, they will host Superior at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Heartland is facing Superior at the right time seeing as Superior is stuck on a five-game losing streak.