Hodgeman County hasn't had much luck against Macksville recently, but that could start to change on Friday. After both having extra time off, the two teams will shake off the cobwebs and take on one another at 7:30 a.m. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Hodgeman County comes in on six and Macksville on four.
Last Friday, Hodgeman County didn't have too much breathing room in their contest against Ashland, but they still walked away with a 34-30 victory. The 34-point effort marked the Longhorns' lowest-scoring game of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.
| 12/17/24 vs Ness City | 1 |
| 02/29/24 @ LaCrosse | 1 |
| 12/20/24 vs Ashland | 4 |
Hodgeman County can attribute much of their success to Kendall Burns, who posted ten points and four steals, and Brody Schroeder, who had ten boards, six assists, and four blocks. The dominant performance gave Schroeder a new career-high in blocks. Another player making a difference was Ian Reece, who posted seven points and seven boards.
Meanwhile, Macksville strolled past Stafford with points to spare last Friday, taking the game 66-48. Given the Mustangs' advantage in MaxPreps' Kansas basketball rankings (they are ranked 38th, while the Trojans are ranked 178th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Hodgeman County better focus on containing Nolan Adams and Diego Esparza as the pair were huge in Macksville's win. Adams dropped a double-double on 26 points and 15 boards, while Esparza went 10 of 19 on his way to 28 points and five steals. Esparza's evening made it 14 games in a row in which he has scored at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Carlos Ibarra, who put up four points and seven boards.
They weren't the only one working in the assists department: Macksville was working as a unit and finished the game with 12 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Stafford only racked up five assists.
Hodgeman County pushed their record up to 6-0 with the win, which was their fourth straight at home dating back to last season. As for Macksville, their victory bumped their record up to 5-1.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Hodgeman County has crashing the boards this season, having averaged 32 boards per game. However, it's not like Macksville struggles in that department as they've been averaging 34.8 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Hodgeman County ended up a good deal behind Macksville in their previous meeting back in February, losing 84-70. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Esparza, who dropped a double-double on 53 points and 11 boards. Now that Hodgeman County knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
