The Bloomington North Cougars will take on the Center Grove Trojans at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are coming into the game red-hot, with Bloomington North sitting on four straight wins and Center Grove on 12.
You can't lose the match if you win every quarter, and that was precisely Bloomington North's strategy against New Albany on Friday. Bloomington North walked away with a 72-64 victory over New Albany. Having run the score up that high, both teams probably have some extra defensive drills coming up.
Bloomington North's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Jalen Williams led the charge by scoring 14 points along with eight rebounds and five assists. Another player making a difference was Connor O'guinn, who scored 19 points.
Meanwhile, Center Grove had already proven themselves in the regular season, and didn't miss a beat now that it's playoff time. They were the clear victor by a 60-37 margin over Mooresville. Center Grove has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won nine matches by 22 points or more this season.
Center Grove's win on Tuesday was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Joey Schmitz, who scored nine points along with five rebounds and four steals. Ben Chestnut was another key contributor, scoring 11 points.
Bloomington North pushed their record up to 12-11 with that victory, which was their third straight at home. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 73.0 points per game. As for Center Grove, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 15 of their last 16 games, which provided a nice bump to their 18-4 record this season.
Bloomington North came up short against Center Grove in their previous matchup back in December of 2023, falling 55-44. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Center Grove's Will Spellman, who almost dropped a double-double on 14 points and nine rebounds. Now that Bloomington North knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
