The Center Cougars will head out on the road to face off against the Marysville Indians at 7:30 p.m. on Monday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both will really light up the scoreboard.
Last Friday, Center was able to grind out a solid victory over Bear River, taking the game 63-53. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Cougars.
Center can attribute much of their success to Andy McLear, who posted 25 points and five assists, and Tima Makovey, who had 16 points and four steals. That makes it three consecutive games in which McLear has scored at least a third of Center's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Gabriel Nesmith, who put up seven points and eight rebounds.
They weren't the only one working in the assists department: Center was working as a unit and finished the game with 17 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Bear River only racked up five assists.
Meanwhile, Marysville had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 24 points) and they went ahead and made it three on Friday. They snuck past the Vikings with a 58-52 win. Given the Indians' advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 356th, while the Vikings are ranked 716th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Marysville had a senior duo take command as Jordan Brooks went 9 of 14 on his way to 22 points and Dennis Syders went 6 of 8 on his way to 12 points. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Brooks has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Eli Delozier, who posted seven points.
Center pushed their record up to 8-8 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 71.0 points per game. As for Marysville, they are on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last 11 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 11-5 record this season.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as Center and Marysville are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Center hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 59.2 points per game. However, it's not like Marysville struggles in that department as they've been averaging 67.4 points. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Center suffered a grim 72-47 defeat to Marysville in their previous meeting back in January of 2024. That contest was all but decided by halftime, at which point Center was down 42-11.
