Basketball Game Preview: Norwood Pirates vs. Fair Grove Eagles

The Norwood Pirates will challenge the Fair Grove Eagles at 5:00 p.m. on Monday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

Last Friday, Norwood blew past Gainesville, posting a 74-38 victory. Given the Pirates' advantage in MaxPreps' Missouri basketball rankings (they are ranked 39th, while the Bulldogs are ranked 322nd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Peyton McDaris

Rebounds

02/07/25 vs Gainesville	6
02/04/25 vs Fordland	2
02/01/25 vs Hartville	1
01/30/25 vs Liberty	4
01/28/25 @ Mountain Grove	1
+ 12 more games

Norwood's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Peyton McDaris led the charge by going 5 for 9 en route to 11 points in addition to six rebounds and five assists. That's the most boards McDaris has posted since back in December of 2024. Another player making a difference was Carder Kelly, who went 5 of 8 on his way to 15 points.

Springfield Catholic typically has all the answers at home, but on Friday Fair Grove proved too difficult a challenge. Everything went their way against the Fighting Irish as they made off with a 64-41 win.

Fair Grove is on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last 11 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 12-7 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 65.8 points over those games. As for Norwood, they pushed their record up to 20-2 with the victory, which was their third straight at home.