Carbondale has been on the road for three straight, but on Friday they'll finally head home. They will take on the Marion Wildcats at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.
Last Saturday, Carbondale was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap as they fell 44-39 to Richland County. While losing is never fun, Carbondale can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 119th, while Richland County is ranked 13th).
Decarl Payne put forth a good effort for the losing side as he scored 20 points. He scored a full 51.3% of Carbondale's points, the sixth time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Henry Harsy was another key contributor, scoring 10 points.
Meanwhile, Marion entered their tilt with Effingham with two consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with three. Marion simply couldn't be stopped on Saturday as they easily beat Effingham 69-39 on the road. Marion might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team's won three games by 28 points or more this season.
Their wins bumped Carbondale to 4-2 and Richland County to 6-0.
Carbondale beat Marion 58-47 when the teams last played back in January. Does Carbondale have another victory up their sleeve, or will Marion turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
