The North Central Panthers had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 2.5 points), and they went ahead and made it three on Friday. They walked away with a 63-55 win over Evansville Reitz. Given North Central's advantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked tenth, while Evansville Reitz is ranked 175th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
North Central was led to victory by Tim Williams and Papi Rivera. Williams scored 18 points along with five assists, while Rivera scored 22 points along with three steals. The game was Rivera's third in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Nijah Jewell, who scored eight points.
Several Panthers players turned in solid performances, despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Braylen Langley, who scored 14 points along with six rebounds. Langley continues to roll, besting his previous point total in each of the last four games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Jaylan Mitchell, who scored ten points along with eight rebounds and five assists.
North Central's victory was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 6-2. As for Evansville Reitz, they have fallen quite a ways from their 19-7 record last season and are now at 3-5.
North Central will have some time to savor their victory since their next game is a little ways off: they'll take on Indianapolis Lutheran at 6:30 p.m. on January 9th. As for Evansville Reitz, they will be playing in front of their home fans against Jasper at 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Jasper has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last three games.
