Fort Wayne South Side is 1-9 against Carroll since January of 2016 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Fort Wayne South Side Archers will take on the Carroll Chargers at 7:30 p.m. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Last Friday, Fort Wayne South Side didn't have too much trouble with Fort Wayne Concordia Lutheran as they won 73-58. Given the Archers' advantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 62nd, while the Cadets are ranked 299th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Fort Wayne South Side's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Demarcus Barr, who went 9 for 16 on his way to 23 points. Barr is trending in the right direction considering he's improved his point production for three straight games. Jayvon Irby was another key player, going 7 of 10 en route to 16 points.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Carroll). They blew past New Haven 70-46 on Saturday. Winning may never get old, but the Chargers sure are getting used to it with their third in a row.
Carroll found their leader in sophomore Jack Van Order, who went 9 for 10 on his way to 21 points. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Van Order has scored all season. Another player making a difference was Paxton Crane, who went 6 of 7 en route to 13 points and eight boards.
Carroll was working as a unit and finished the game with 19 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.
Fort Wayne South Side is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five contests, which provided a nice bump to their 10-3 record this season. As for Carroll, their win bumped their record up to 6-8.
Friday's matchup will pit two of the most dominant forwards against one another: Zacariah Belcher and Crane. Belcher has been dynamite this season: he has averaged 14.3 points, 3.5 blocks, and 8.6 rebounds. For his part, Crane has averaged 16.1 points, 10.5 boards, and 1.4 assists.
Fort Wayne South Side came up short against Carroll in their previous meeting back in January of 2024, falling 74-62. Can Fort Wayne South Side avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
