Basketball Game Preview: Clinton River Kings vs. Muscatine Muskies

The Clinton River Kings will venture away from home to take on the Muscatine Muskies at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Clinton has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the matchup with 31 straight losses, while Muscatine will come in with seven straight victories.

Clinton is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They took a 65-56 hit to the loss column at the hands of Davenport West on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Muscatine hadn't done well against Bettendorf recently (they were 1-8 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Tuesday. Muscatine snuck past Bettendorf with a 58-53 win. Given the Muskies' advantage in MaxPreps' Iowa basketball rankings (they are ranked 13th, while the Bulldogs are ranked 77th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Muscatine pushed their record up to 7-0 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. As for Clinton, their defeat dropped their record down to 0-8.

Things could have been worse for Clinton, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 65-50 loss to Muscatine in their previous meeting back in January of 2024. Can Clinton avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.