North Union is 9-1 against Northwestern since January of 2019, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The North Union Wildcats will look to defend their home court against the Northwestern Warriors at 7:30 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (North Union has six straight victories, Northwestern has eight straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Even though Centerburg scored an imposing 56 points on Saturday, North Union still came out on top. North Union narrowly escaped with a win as the team sidled past Centerburg 58-56. Given North Union's advantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 201st, while Centerburg is ranked 601st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Meanwhile, Northwestern lost to Bethel at home by a decisive 68-50 margin on Tuesday. The loss unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for Northwestern in their matchups with Bethel: they've now lost three in a row.
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the best came from Ross Fultz, who scored nine points along with five steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Caleb Bailey, who scored 14 points.
North Union pushed their record up to 15-3 with that victory, which was their fifth straight at home. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 61.2 points per game. As for Northwestern, they have traveled a rocky road recently having lost 11 of their last 12 contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 4-14 record this season.
North Union was able to grind out a solid victory over Northwestern when the teams last played back in January, winning 77-68. Will North Union repeat their success, or does Northwestern have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
