Basketball Game Preview: Urbana Hawks vs. Wilde Lake Wildecats

Urbana is on a six-game streak of home wins, while Wilde Lake is on a five-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. The Urbana Hawks will host the Wilde Lake Wildecats at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.

Urbana is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They snuck past Frederick with a 77-72 win on Wednesday.

Urbana's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Sean Pyles led the charge by going 5-for-12 en route to 24 points and six assists. What's more, Pyles also posted a 50% three-point shooting accuracy, which is the highest he's achieved since back in February of 2024. Another player making a difference was Diego Orellana, who went 6-for-12 to rack up 22 points and seven boards.

Meanwhile, Wilde Lake posted their biggest victory since January 13th on Wednesday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Hammond 96-68. The Wildecats have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won six contests by 21 points or more this season.

Urbana is on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last ten matches. That's provided a nice bump to their 15-5 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 64.7 points over those games. Wilde Lake's win bumped their record up to 16-4.

Urbana was able to grind out a solid victory over Wilde Lake when the teams last played back in January of 2024, winning 69-58. Will Urbana repeat their success, or does Wilde Lake have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.