Pike Valley is 1-9 against St. John's/Tipton Catholic since February of 2016 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The Pike Valley Panthers will head out on the road to challenge the St. John's/Tipton Catholic Blujays at 7:30 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
You can't lose the game if you win every quarter, and that was precisely Pike Valley's strategy against Thunder Ridge on Saturday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Pike Valley blew Thunder Ridge out of the water with a 65-38 final score. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Pike Valley.
Andrew Cooper continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, scoring 31 points along with eight steals and six rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points he has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Gavin Massell, who scored 11 points along with five assists and five rebounds.
Meanwhile, St. John's/Tipton Catholic was fully in charge on Friday, breezing past Stockton 72-27 at home. Given St. John's/Tipton Catholic's advantage in MaxPreps' Kansas basketball rankings (they are ranked 151st, while Stockton is ranked 351st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
St. John's/Tipton Catholic's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Edward Horinek, who scored 17 points along with three steals. Horinek has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last four times he's played. Jacob Winkler was another key contributor, scoring 14 points along with two steals.
Pike Valley has been performing well recently as they've won seven of their last nine games, which provided a nice bump to their 9-6 record this season. As for St. John's/Tipton Catholic, their victory bumped their record up to an identical 9-6.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Pike Valley have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 28.9 rebounds per game. However, it's not like St. John's/Tipton Catholic struggles in that department as they've been averaging 32.1 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Pike Valley lost to St. John's/Tipton Catholic on the road by a decisive 65-48 margin in their previous meeting back in February of 2023. Can Pike Valley avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
