Basketball Game Preview: Plano Reapers vs. Johnsburg Skyhawks

The Plano Reapers will take on the Johnsburg Skyhawks in a holiday battle at at 6:45 p.m. on Monday. Plano is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 52.5 points per game this season.

Plano is probably headed into the game with a chip on their shoulder considering Marengo just ended the team's five-game winning streak on Wednesday. They fell 45-36 to the Indians.

Loss or not, Plano got some senior leadership from Nylah Mathews and Sanai Young. Mathews dropped a double-double on 17 points and 11 boards, while Young posted 13 points and eight rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Mathews has scored all season.

Even though they lost, Plano smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 11 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive rebounds in 25 consecutive matches dating back to last season.

Meanwhile, Johnsburg waltzed into their contest on Saturday with three straight wins... but they left with four. They had just enough and edged the Bulldogs out 39-37. Given the Skyhawks' advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 222nd, while the Bulldogs are ranked 508th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Johnsburg is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six games, which provided a nice bump to their 6-3 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 50.5 points per game. As for Plano, their defeat was their first in the conference, dropping their conference record down to 2-1 and their overall record down to 8-3.

Plano came up short against Johnsburg when the teams last played back in January, falling 48-37. Can Plano avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.