Central is 0-10 against Norland since February of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The Central Rockets are on the road again and plays the Norland Vikings on February 8th. One thing working in Central's favor is that they have posted big point totals in their last 20 matches.
It can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but Central had no problem doing just that on Tuesday. They managed a 60-54 win over the Patriots.
Central's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Willie Dye III, who dropped a double-double on ten points and ten rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Justin Suarez, who scored 11 points along with seven rebounds.
Meanwhile, Norland pushed their score all the way to 68 on Saturday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They fell to Winter Haven 73-68. While losing is never fun, Norland can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 29th, while Winter Haven is ranked fourth).
Norland's defeat shouldn't obscure the performances of Marcus Allen, who scored 24 points along with six rebounds, and Triston Wilson who scored 21 points along with eight rebounds. Another player making a difference was Kendrick Preston, who scored five points along with five rebounds and four blocks.
Central's victory was their fifth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 19-4. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 74.8 points per game. As for Norland, their defeat dropped their record down to 14-10.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as Central and Norland are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Central hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 68.9 points per game. However, it's not like Norland struggles in that department as they've been averaging 63.7 points per game. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Central suffered a grim 85-65 defeat to Norland in their previous meeting back in November of 2021. The game was all but decided by halftime, at which point Central was down 43-23.
