The Belleville West Maroons will head out on the road to take on the Columbia Eagles at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
On Friday, Belleville West didn't have quite enough to beat Collinsville and fell 58-55. The Maroons have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Meanwhile, Columbia waltzed into their match on Friday with seven straight wins... but they left with eight. They took their game with ease, bagging a 76-26 victory over the Wildcats. The Eagles have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 11 contests by 23 points or more this season.
Columbia's win came from a few key players Belleville West will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Brody Landgraf, who posted 15 points. His evening made it three games in a row in which he has scored at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Brady Hemminghaus, who had 13 points.
Columbia is on a roll lately: they've won 11 of their last 13 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 19-4 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 61.4 points per game. As for Belleville West, their loss dropped their record down to 10-12.
Belleville West came out on top in a nail-biter against Columbia in their previous meeting back in January of 2024, sneaking past 50-47. The rematch might be a little tougher for Belleville West since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
