Basketball Game Preview: Southwestern Piasa Birds vs. Jersey Panthers

The Southwestern Piasa Birds will venture away from home to face off against the Jersey Panthers at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Southwestern will be strutting in after a win while Jersey will be coming in after a defeat.

Southwestern saw some tournament action back in December of 2024. They walked away with a 48-36 victory over SIUE East St. Louis Charter. Given the Piasa Birds' advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 291st, while the Cougars are ranked 673rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Southwestern's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Ryan Lowis, who posted 15 points and eight boards. Lowis' afternoon made it three games in a row in which he has scored at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Cason Robinson, who went 5 of 7 on his way to 14 points.

Meanwhile, it's never fun to lose, and it's even less fun to lose 61-22, which was the final score in Jersey's tilt against Triad on Monday. The matchup marked the Panthers' lowest-scoring contest so far this season.

Southwestern is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six games, which provided a massive bump to their 9-8 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 53.8 points per game. As for Jersey, their loss was their ninth straight at home dating back to last season, which dropped their record down to 5-13.

Southwestern didn't have too much breathing room in their contest against Jersey when the teams last played back in November of 2024, but they still walked away with a 54-48 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Southwestern since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.