Preview: Martinsville Artesians vs. Center Grove Trojans
Martinsville is 1-8 against Center Grove since December of 2014 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Saturday. The pair will face off at 7:00 p.m. on March 2nd without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Both teams come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
It can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but Martinsville had no problem doing just that on Friday. They snuck past the Panthers with a 65-61 victory. The win was just what Martinsville needed coming off of a 75-53 loss in their prior game.
Meanwhile, Center Grove waltzed into their matchup on Friday with 12 straight wins but they left with 13. They strolled past Bloomington North with points to spare, taking the game 52-38. Given Center Grove's advantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked ninth, while Bloomington North is ranked 80th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
It was another big night for Will Spellman, who almost dropped a triple-double on 20 points, ten rebounds, and nine steals. As a matter of fact, that's the most points he has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Joey Schmitz, who scored 14 points.
Martinsville's win bumped their record up to 4-19. As for Center Grove, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 16 of their last 17 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 19-4 record this season.
Martinsville suffered a grim 79-54 defeat to Center Grove in their previous matchup back in December of 2023. Can Martinsville avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
