Basketball Recap: Central Skates Past Jacobs with Ease

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Previous Games

02/14/25 - Home	71-44 W
01/22/25 - Away	63-56 W
02/09/24 - Away	59-44 W
01/17/24 - Home	64-52 W
02/07/23 - Home	64-37 W
+ 5 more games

You can't lose the game if you win every quarter, and that was precisely Central's strategy against Jacobs on Friday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that the Central Rockets blew the Jacobs Golden Eagles out of the water with a 71-44 final score. Given the Rockets' advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 85th, while the Golden Eagles are ranked 228th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Central had a senior duo take command as Jacob Johnson went 8-for-14 en route to 19 points along with seven rebounds and three steals and Patrick Shell went 8-for-14 to rack up 17 points in addition to six boards and five steals. Shell is also on a roll when it comes to field goal percentage, as he's posted one of at least 46% in the last six games he's played. Colton O'Neil also deserves some recognition as he pulled down his first board of the season.

Central was working as a unit and finished the game with 25 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.

Jacobs' defeat came despite a true team effort with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Jordan O'Connor, who posted ten points. The dominant performance gave O'Connor a new career-high in points. The team also got some help courtesy of Ben Jurzak, who earned 11 points and five rebounds.

Central has been performing well recently as they've won 12 of their last 15 games, which provided a nice bump to their 21-8 record this season. As for Jacobs, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 15-14.

Both squads are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Central will challenge Hampshire at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Central is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 59.9 points per game this season. As for Jacobs, they will look to defend their home court on Tuesday against Crystal Lake South at 7:00 p.m. One thing working in Crystal Lake South's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points in their last five matchups.