Basketball Game Preview: Northland Vikings vs. Centennial Stars

Northland has gone 10-0 against Centennial recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Tuesday. The Northland Vikings will challenge the Centennial Stars at 7:00 p.m. One thing working in Northland's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points in their last eight contests.

Northland is headed into the game after thoroughly thrashing Whetstone: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Northland blew Whetstone out of the water with an 80-34 final score. With the Vikings ahead 44-19 at the half, the match was all but over already.

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Northland to victory, but perhaps none more so than Diante James, who went 10 for 18 on his way to 24 points in addition to six assists and five rebounds. James has been hot, having also posted two or more steals the last six times he's played. Tejuan Barbour was another key player, as he made all 6 shots he took to post 17 points and four steals.

Meanwhile, Centennial came tearing into Monday's contest with three straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 24 points) and they left with even more momentum. They slipped by the Tigers 57-56.

Northland pushed their record up to 12-3 with the victory, which was their sixth straight at home. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 73.5 points per game. As for Centennial, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight games, which provided a nice bump to their 13-3 record this season.

Northland took their win against Centennial in their previous meeting back in December of 2024 by a conclusive 77-56. The rematch might be a little tougher for Northland since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.