The Benton Cardinals will head out on the road to face off against the Battle Spartans at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday. Benton will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Missouri Rankings (they are ranked 302nd, while Battle is ranked 37th).
Last Tuesday, Benton lost to Park Hill South at home by a decisive 40-25 margin. The result shouldn't come as a shock considering that's the fewest points Benton has scored all season.
Meanwhile, Battle strolled past Montgomery County with points to spare on Thursday, taking the game 63-49.
Tate McCubbin continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, scoring 15 points along with six rebounds and three blocks. The match was his eighth in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Vernell Holt, who scored 13 points.
This is the second loss in a row for Benton and nudges their season record down to 2-3. As for Battle, they are on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 6-2 record this season.
Benton came up short against Battle when the teams last played back in January of 2021, falling 63-56. Can Benton avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
