Athens and North Penn-Mansfield are an even 5-5 against one another since February of 2019, but not for long. A feisty cat fight is on tap when the Athens Wildcats take on the North Penn-Mansfield Tigers at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Each of these teams will be battling to keep a five-game winning streak alive.
Last Friday, Athens didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Towanda, but they still walked away with a 45-41 victory.
| 01/31/25 vs Towanda | 8 |
| 01/15/24 @ Williamson | 7 |
| 12/12/23 vs Blue Ridge | 4 |
| 12/13/23 vs North Penn-Liberty | 4 |
| 12/27/23 vs Sayre | 4 |
Nick Grazul and Jase Babcock were among the main playmakers for Athens as the former went 7 for 10 on his way to 15 points and the latter went 5 of 11 en route to 11 points along with eight assists and six boards. Those eight assists gave Babcock a new career-high. Talon Baglini was another key player, putting up five points.
Meanwhile, North Penn-Mansfield didn't have too much trouble with Wellsboro on Friday as they won 72-55. Given the Tigers' advantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania basketball rankings (they are ranked 193rd, while the Hornets are ranked 504th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
North Penn-Mansfield's win came from a few key players Athens will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Cooper Shaw, who dropped a double-double on 25 points and ten rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Brady Stetter, who posted 17 points in addition to six boards and three steals.
North Penn-Mansfield's win was their seventh straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 16-3. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 68.1 points per game. As for Athens, they are on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven contests, which provided a nice bump to their 8-10 record this season.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Athens has been crashing the rebounds this season, having averaged 24.4 boards per game. However, it's not like North Penn-Mansfield struggles in that department as they've been averaging 29.4 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Athens was dealt a bruising 62-35 defeat at the hands of North Penn-Mansfield in their previous matchup back in January. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Shaw, who shot 4-for-5 from long range and dropped a double-double on 18 points and ten boards. Now that Athens knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
