Two dominant guards in Amaree Pickens and Lucas Luteran are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Cathedral Prep Ramblers will head out on the road to take on the Meadville Bulldogs at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Cathedral Prep knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with flashy point totals in its past 14 games -- so hopefully Meadville likes a good challenge.
Last Tuesday, Cathedral Prep strolled past General McLane with points to spare, taking the game 69-53. Given Cathedral Prep's advantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania basketball rankings (they are ranked 115th, while General McLane is ranked 314th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Meanwhile, Meadville had already won four in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 18.8 points), and they went ahead and made it five on Tuesday. They were the clear victor by a 78-57 margin over Harbor Creek. Meadville has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won seven games by 20 points or more this season.
Meadville's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Luteran, who went 6 for 10 from beyond the arc en route to 27 points and 2 assists. Luteran has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last 11 times he's played. Another player making a difference was Jack Burchard, who scored 25 points along with five assists.
Cathedral Prep now has a winning record of 10-9. As for Meadville, they pushed their record up to 11-8 with that win, which was their fourth straight at home.
Cathedral Prep didn't have too much breathing room in their match against Meadville in their previous matchup back in January, but they still walked away with a 63-57 win. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Burchard, who scored 27 points along with two steals. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Cathedral Prep still be able to contain Burchard? There's only one way to find out.
