Basketball Game Preview: Illini West Chargers vs. Brown County Hornets

The Illini West Chargers and the Brown County Hornets will round out the year against one another at at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday. Illini West will be looking to extend their current three-game winning streak.

Illini West will head into Friday's match having proved themselves against Clark County: Illini West took a 20-point defeat the last time they faced off against Clark County, but this time they managed to keep it close and that made all the difference. Illini West came out on top in a nail-biter against Clark County on Friday, sneaking past 42-40.

Illini West's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Wesley Robertson, who posted 14 points and four steals. Robertson has been hot recently, having posted three or more steals the last three times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Ethan Carlisle, who had ten points and four steals.

While Brown County didn't have the best season last year (they finished 6-22), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past. They took down Beardstown 59-42 on Friday. Given the Hornets' advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 249th, while the Tigers are ranked 610th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Brown County's victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 7-2. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 64.3 points per game. As for Illini West, they have been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six games, which provided a nice bump to their 8-3 record this season.

Everything went Illini West's way against Brown County when the teams last played back in December of 2022, as Illini West made off with a 63-41 win. Does Illini West have another victory up their sleeve, or will Brown County turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.