The Vandalia Vandals will head out on the road to face off against the Southwestern Piasa Birds at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both will really light up the scoreboard.
On Tuesday, everything went Vandalia's way against Carlinville as Vandalia made off with a 65-41 victory. The game marked the Vandals' most dominant win of the season.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Southwestern). They took their match on Tuesday with ease, bagging a 75-36 victory over East Alton-Wood River. Given the Piasa Birds' advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 311th, while the Oilers are ranked 653rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Vandalia better focus on containing Ian Brantley and Ryan Lowis as the pair were huge in Southwestern's win. Brantley went 12 for 13 on his way to 31 points and eight rebounds, while Lowis went 7 of 11 en route to 21 points and six boards. That's the most points Brantley has posted since back in December of 2024. The team also got some help courtesy of Cason Robinson, who posted three points and five assists.
Vandalia has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four contests, which provided a nice bump to their 11-14 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 65.8 points per game. As for Southwestern, their win bumped their record up to 14-11.
Vandalia skirted past Southwestern 60-57 in their previous matchup back in February of 2024. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Brantley, who almost dropped a double-double on 32 points and nine boards. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Vandalia still be able to contain Brantley? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
