Russell is 1-6 against Hill City since January of 2021 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Russell Broncos will square off against the Hill City Ringnecks at 7:00 p.m. Russell has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last four games.
Last Friday, Russell was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap as they fell 77-71 to Trego. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game last Tuesday (64), the Broncos still had to take the loss.
Trey Carlson
| 02/14/25 @ Trego | 78% |
| 02/11/25 vs Thomas More Prep-Marian | 56% |
| 02/07/25 vs Oakley | 45% |
| 02/04/25 @ Plainville | 46% |
| 02/03/25 vs Ellis | 67% |
| + 2 more games |
Russell's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Sam Thielen, who posted 22 points, and Trey Carlson, who went 7-for-9 to rack up 17 points and five rebounds. Carlson is also on a roll when it comes to shooting accuracy, as he's posted one of at least 45% in the last seven games he's played. Dominick Hernandez was another key player, putting up seven points along with six boards and three steals.
Meanwhile, you can't lose the game if you win every quarter, and that was precisely Hill City's strategy against Thunder Ridge on Monday. Everything went Hill City's way against Thunder Ridge as Hill City made off with a 58-32 win. The Ringnecks pushed the score to 44-23 by the end of the third, a deficit the Longhorns had little chance of recovering from.
Hill City's win came from a few key players Russell will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Carson Keith, who went 8-for-17 on his way to 22 points and six rebounds. That makes it six consecutive games in which he has scored at least a third of Hill City's points. Another player making a difference was Vincent Zohner, who put up eight points in addition to ten boards and four blocks.
Hill City was working as a unit and finished the game with 18 assists. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their assist total in three consecutive matchups.
Hill City's victory bumped their record up to 7-11. As for Russell, their defeat dropped their record down to 9-9.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Russell has been crashing the boards this season, having averaged 26.9 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Hill City struggles in that department as they've been averaging 28.1 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Russell was able to grind out a solid win over Hill City in their previous meeting back in January, winning 56-43. The rematch might be a little tougher for Russell since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
