The Centralia Panthers will be home for the holidays to greet the South Shelby Cardinals at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. One thing working in Centralia's favor is that they have posted big point totals in their last six contests.
Last Tuesday, Centralia didn't have too much trouble with Blair Oaks on the road as they won 62-44. 62 seems to be a good number for Centralia as the squad scooped up a victory with the same number of points in their previous game.
Meanwhile, South Shelby was able to grind out a solid win over Canton on Tuesday, taking the game 56-45. Given South Shelby's advantage in MaxPreps' Missouri basketball rankings (they are ranked 21st, while Canton is ranked 126th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
South Shelby's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Charlie Roush, who dropped a double-double on 20 points and 11 rebounds. That's the first time this season that Roush scored 15 or more points. Belle Roush was another key contributor, dropping a double-double on 14 points and 15 rebounds.
Centralia pushed their record up to 6-1 with that win, which was their third straight on the road. They've been dominating during the games in that stretch too, as they've won by an average of 24.33 points. As for South Shelby, their win bumped their record up to 6-1.
Centralia came up short against South Shelby when the teams last played back in December of 2022, falling 50-43. Thankfully for Centralia, Miranda Patterson (who scored 26 points along with six rebounds) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
