Benson is 0-10 against Bellevue West since January of 2015 but things could change on Saturday. The Benson Bunnies will take on the Bellevue West Thunderbirds at 7:15 p.m. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Benson is headed into the matchup out to prove that what happened against Kearney last Friday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Benson had to suffer through an 83-55 loss at the hands of Kearney. While losing is never fun, the Bunnies can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Nebraska basketball rankings (they are ranked 131st, while the Bearcats are ranked 36th).
Goanar Bamach
| 02/14/25 vs Kearney | 20 |
| 02/11/25 @ Papillion-LaVista | 32 |
| 02/08/25 vs Columbus | 23 |
| 02/04/25 vs Grand Island | 15 |
Benson might have lost, but man, Goanar Bamach was a machine: he went 8-for-16 on his way to 20 points along with six assists and six boards. The game was Bamach's fourth in a row with at least 15 points. Another player making a difference was J'Lee Chatmon-Flakes, who posted 13 points and eight assists.
Meanwhile, Bellevue West had already won five in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 16.6 points) and they went ahead and made it six on Friday. They really took it to the Tigers for the full four quarters, racking up an 80-48 win. With the Thunderbirds ahead 42-18 at the half, the contest was all but over already.
Benson better keep an eye on Robert Garcia. He was instrumental in Bellevue West's win, shooting 4-for-7 from long range and dropping a double-double with 24 points and ten rebounds. Garcia has been hot for a while, having posted eight or more boards the last 14 times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Bryce Johnson Jr, who dropped a double-double with 11 points and 14 assists.
They weren't the only ones working in the assist department: Bellevue West was working as a unit and finished the game with 25 assists. That's the most assists they've posted since the start of last season.
Bellevue West's victory was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 15-7. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 75.0 points over those games. As for Benson, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 9-14.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Benson has been crashing the boards this season, having averaged 30.3 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Bellevue West struggles in that department as they've been averaging 33.2 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Benson was taken down by Bellevue West 93-50 in their previous matchup back in February of 2022. Thankfully for Benson, Josiah Dotzler (who went 7-for-9 to rack up 21 points and five assists) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
