The Johnston Dragons will square off against the Lincoln Lynx at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday. Johnston is coming into the game hot, having won their last six games.
86 must be Johnston's lucky number: they beat Jefferson with that score not once but twice on Tuesday. The Dragons beat the Yellowjackets by the very same score they won with in their prior game: 86-31. With the Dragons ahead 46-16 at the half, the contest was all but over already.
Meanwhile, Lincoln was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap on Friday as they fell 68-64 to Bishop Heelan Catholic. The loss was a bit of a surprise, as the Lynx came into the matchup with a sizable advantage in MaxPreps' Iowa basketball rankings (they are ranked 14th, while the Crusaders are ranked 63rd).
Johnston will have to keep a close watch on Jake Babbitt and Kalan Steinbeck, a pair of players who had a big impact on Lincoln's prior game. Babbitt shot 79% from the field to rack up 23 points, while Steinbeck went 9-for-14 on his way to 17 points and six rebounds. The game was Steinbeck's fourth in a row with at least 15 points. Another player making a difference was CJ Mosala, who posted eight points.
Johnston's win bumped their record up to 13-8. As for Lincoln, their defeat was their first in the conference, dropping their conference record down to 13-1 and their overall record down to 17-3.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps