Basketball Game Preview: Upsala Cardinals vs. Maple Lake Irish

The Upsala Cardinals will challenge the Maple Lake Irish at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.

Maple Lake will be up against a hot Upsala team: the squad just extended their winning streak to three. Upsala blew past Verndale 71-38 on Friday. The Cardinals have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won eight contests by 26 points or more this season.

Jack Primus

Points

02/28/25 @ Verndale	17
02/27/25 @ Parkers Prairie	16
02/24/25 vs Long Prairie-Grey Eagle	13
02/21/25 vs Osakis	11
02/18/25 @ Long Prairie-Grey Eagle	32
+ 21 more games

Upsala's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Jack Primus, who almost dropped a double-double with 17 points and nine assists. Primus continues to improve, besting his previous point total in each of the last three games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Eric Landowski, who went 7-for-8 to rack up 14 points in addition to five boards and five steals.

Primus wasn't the only one working in the assist department: Upsala was working as a unit and finished the game with 20 assists. That's the most assists they've posted since back in January.

Meanwhile, with a playoff win on the line, Maple Lake rose to the challenge on Monday. They took down the Huskies 76-60. That looming 76-60 mark stands out as the most commanding margin for the Irish yet this season.

Upsala's win was their fifth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 20-6. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 72.0 points over those games. As for Maple Lake, they are on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four games. That's provided a nice bump to their 3-20 record this season.