Basketball Game Preview: Shawnee Indians vs. St. John's Bluejays

Having just played yesterday, the Shawnee Indians will head out on the road to face off against the St. John's Bluejays at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. Both teams are coming into the matchup red-hot, with Shawnee sitting on eight straight wins and St. John's on nine.

Shawnee is headed into the contest having just posted their closest victory since January 19, 2024 on Friday. They came out on top in a nail-biter against Coldwater, sneaking past 53-51. The 53-point effort marked the Indians' lowest-scoring game of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.

Shawnee can attribute much of their success to Beckett Bertke, who almost dropped a double-double on 19 points and nine boards, and Trevick Bertke, who went 5 of 8 on his way to 11 points and eight rebounds. Beckett's evening made it eight games in a row in which he has scored at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Jagger Hutchins, who went 5 of 7 on his way to 12 points.

Meanwhile, a well-balanced attack led St. John's over Parkway in every quarter on their way to victory on Friday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that St. John's blew Parkway out of the water with a 78-46 final score. The Bluejays have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won seven matchups by 23 points or more this season.

St. John's win was their 12th straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 9-0. As for Shawnee, their victory bumped their record up to 9-1.

Shawnee was able to grind out a solid win over St. John's when the teams last played back in January of 2024, winning 65-58. The rematch might be a little tougher for Shawnee since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.