The Oakes Tornadoes will be playing at home against the Richland Colts at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Oakes posted their biggest win yet this season on Saturday. They beat Maple River by the very same score they won with last week: 62-35. Given Oakes' advantage in MaxPreps's basketball rankings in their respective home states (they are ranked 62nd in North Dakota, while Maple River is ranked 217th in Minnesota), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Richland has not had quite the year their fans were hoping for to this point, but back-to-back wins may be a sign of good things to come. They enjoyed a cozy 60-46 win over Rothsay on Saturday. With that win, Richland brought their scoring average up to 50.6 points per game.
Richland's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Nick Mjoness led the charge by scoring 14 points along with seven assists and five rebounds. Another player making a difference was Casyn Syvertsen, who dropped a double-double on 15 points and 12 rebounds.
The win got Oakes back to even at 6-6. As for Richland, their victory bumped their record up to 4-8.
Oakes came out on top in a nail-biter against Richland when the teams last played back in February of 2022, sneaking past 55-52. Will Oakes repeat their success, or does Richland have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
