The Joliet Central Steelmen will head out on the road to square off against the Oswego East Wolves at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Joliet Central has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the game with nine straight losses, while Oswego East will come in with eight straight victories.
Joliet Central is headed into the contest out to prove that what happened against Bolingbrook on Tuesday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Joliet Central took a blow against Bolingbrook, falling 72-26. While losing is never fun, the Steelmen can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 573rd, while the Raiders are ranked third).
| 01/14/25 vs Bolingbrook | 7 |
| 01/10/25 @ Minooka | 3 |
| 12/10/24 @ Plainfield Central | 3 |
| 11/20/23 vs Minooka | 3 |
| 02/02/24 @ Plainfield Central | 2 |
Despite the defeat, Joliet Central had strong showings from Jayden Poplawski, who posted seven points, and James Lee, who scored ten points. Those seven points gave Poplawski a new career-high.
Meanwhile, even if it wasn't a dominant performance, Oswego East beat Metea Valley 58-54 on Wednesday.
Oswego East has also been performing well recently as they've won ten of their last 12 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 14-5 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 57.3 points per game. As for Joliet Central, their loss dropped their record down to 2-15.
Joliet Central came up short against Oswego East in their previous matchup back in February of 2024, falling 63-50. Can Joliet Central avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
