The Dighton Hornets will square off against the Hodgeman County Longhorns at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Dighton is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Monday. They blew past Wheatland-Grinnell 62-16. The win was nothing new for the Hornets as they're now sitting on 16 straight.
Daniel Cramer
| 03/03/25 vs Wheatland-Grinnell | 18 |
| 02/21/25 vs Rawlins County | 21 |
| 02/17/25 vs Triplains/Brewster | 40 |
| 02/11/25 vs Wichita County | 30 |
Daniel Cramer continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, going 6-for-13 to rack up 18 points and five steals. The match was his fourth in a row with at least 18 points. The team also got some help courtesy of George Von Leonrod, who almost dropped a double-double with ten points and nine boards.
Dighton smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 11 offensive boards in five consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Hodgeman County, who bounced back after a loss on the road two weeks ago. They breezed past Cheylin to the tune of 59-26 on Monday. Given the Longhorns' advantage in MaxPreps' Kansas basketball rankings (they are ranked 111th, while the Cougars are ranked 273rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Hodgeman County's win came from a few key players Dighton will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Tyson Younger, who shot 46% from the field on his way to 13 points and five rebounds. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in assists (three). Hazen Rydquist was another key player, going 7-for-15 en route to 18 points and three steals.
Dighton's victory was their eighth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 18-3. The wins came thanks in part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 29.3 points on average over those games. As for Hodgeman County, they are on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last nine games. That's provided a nice bump to their 16-6 record this season.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Dighton has been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 27.4 boards per game. However, it's not like Hodgeman County struggles in that department as they've been averaging 29.7 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Dighton lost to Hodgeman County at home by a decisive 55-40 margin in their previous meeting back in March of 2015. Can Dighton avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
