Basketball Game Preview: Norton Bluejays vs. Trego Golden Eagles

Norton has gone 9-1 against Trego recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Friday. It'll be a Battle of the Birds when the Norton Bluejays challenge the Trego Golden Eagles at 7:30 p.m. Norton is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 50 points per game this season.

Trego will be up against a hot Norton squad: the team just extended their winning streak to three. Norton walked away with a 48-40 victory over Thomas More Prep-Marian on Monday. Given the Bluejays' advantage in MaxPreps' Kansas basketball rankings (they are ranked 71st, while the Monarchs are ranked 244th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Norton's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Tyce Melvin led the charge by going 5 for 9 on his way to 13 points along with six assists and six rebounds. Those six assists gave Melvin a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Rylen Murray, who posted 11 points.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Trego). They skirted past Phillipsburg 58-55. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest win the Golden Eagles have posted since December 10, 2024.

Trego has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six games, which provided a nice bump to their 7-3 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 53.3 points per game. As for Norton, their victory bumped their record up to 7-3.

Everything went Norton's way against Trego in their previous matchup back in February of 2024, as Norton made off with a 57-31 win. Will Norton repeat their success, or does Trego have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.