Basketball Game Preview: Central Valley Cougars vs. Newman Grove/St. Edward Panthers

A feisty cat fight is on tap when the Central Valley Cougars duke it out with the Newman Grove/St. Edward Panthers at 6:00 p.m. on Monday... One thing working in Central Valley's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points in their last four contests.

Central Valley is headed into the game after thoroughly thrashing Anselmo-Merna: they outscored them in every quarter. Central Valley was the clear victor by a 61-38 margin over Anselmo-Merna on Friday. The Cougars have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won four matches by 23 points or more this season.

Central Valley had a senior duo take command as Zaden Wolf went 5 of 9 on his way to 12 points and five boards and Taesian Soto posted 11 points and six assists. That's the most assists Soto has posted since back in February of 2024. Zevan Wolf was another key player, putting up seven points and seven rebounds.

Meanwhile, Newman Grove/St. Edward didn't have too much trouble with Heartland Lutheran on Thursday as they won 49-31.

Central Valley better keep an eye on Anthony Reader. He was instrumental in Newman Grove/St. Edward's win, going 10 for 23 en route to 27 points along with seven boards and five steals. That makes it three consecutive games in which Reader has scored at least a third of Newman Grove/St. Edward's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Zander Jarecki, who had seven points in addition to seven rebounds and five assists.

Newman Grove/St. Edward was working as a unit and finished the game with 16 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Heartland Lutheran only racked up seven assists.

Central Valley has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven contests, which provided a nice bump to their 9-3 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 58.1 points per game. As for Newman Grove/St. Edward, the win got them back to even at 6-6.

Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Central Valley has been crashing the boards this season, having averaged 32.6 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Newman Grove/St. Edward struggles in that department as they've been averaging 31.9 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other basketball content.