A well-balanced attack led the Ainsworth Bulldogs over the North Central Knights in every quarter on their way to victory on Monday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Ainsworth blew North Central out of the water with a 69-41 final score. Given Ainsworth's advantage in MaxPreps' Nebraska basketball rankings (they are ranked 66th, while North Central is ranked 205th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Leading Ainsworth to victory were Trey Appelt and Carter Nelson. Appelt dropped a double-double on 22 points and 11 rebounds, while Nelson dropped a triple-double on 20 points, 15 rebounds, and ten assists. Appelt has been hot recently, having posted eight or more rebounds the last 20 times he's played. Witten Painter was another key contributor, scoring ten points.
Jackson Hallock and Kol Otten certainly did their best on Monday to avoid the loss. Hallock scored ten points along with eight rebounds and two steals, while Otten scored 15 points. Hallock is on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed two or more in the last three games he's played.
Ainsworth pushed their record up to 14-7 with that victory, which was their third straight on the road. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 61.3 points per game. As for North Central, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 8-11.
Ainsworth will look to defend their home court on Friday against Bridgeport at 2:30 p.m. One thing working in Bridgeport's favor is that they have posted big point totals in their last seven matches. As for North Central, they will head out on the road to challenge Stuart at 7:45 p.m. on Friday. Hopefully Stuart focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 21 last Friday.
