The Grand Island Central Catholic Crusaders waltzed into their contest on Saturday with four straight wins but they left with five. They narrowly escaped with a win as the team sidled past Elkhorn Valley 46-44.
Grand Island Central Catholic's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Thomas Birch led the charge by almost dropping a double-double on 18 points and nine rebounds. Birch has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last four times he's played. Braylon Wolfe was another key contributor, scoring 15 points along with two steals.
Elkhorn Valley's loss came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Kellyn Ollendick, who scored 13 points along with six assists. Another player making a difference was Dawson Hansen, who scored nine points along with six rebounds.
Grand Island Central Catholic has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven matches, which provided a massive bump to their 10-10 record this season. As for Elkhorn Valley, they are on a four-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 13-6.
Grand Island Central Catholic will head out on the road to challenge St. Paul at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Hopefully Grand Island Central Catholic focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up eight on Saturday. Elkhorn Valley does not have any more games scheduled as of now.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
