The Evansville Reitz Panthers pushed their score all the way to 55 on Friday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They took a 63-55 hit to the loss column at the hands of North Central. While losing is never fun, Evansville Reitz can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 175th, while North Central is ranked tenth).
Several Panthers players turned in solid performances, despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Braylen Langley, who scored 14 points along with six rebounds. Those 14 points set a new season-high mark for him. Another player making a difference was Jaylan Mitchell, who scored ten points along with eight rebounds and five assists.
Leading North Central to victory were Tim Williams and Papi Rivera. Williams scored 18 points along with five assists, while Rivera scored 22 points along with three steals. That's the first time this season that Williams scored 15 or more points. Nijah Jewell was another key contributor, scoring eight points.
Evansville Reitz's defeat was their fourth straight on the road dating back to last season, which bumped their record down to 3-5. As for North Central, the victory (which was their third in a row) raised their record to 6-2.
Evansville Reitz will look to defend their home court on Tuesday against Jasper at 8:00 p.m. Jasper has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last three games. North Central and Indianapolis Lutheran will face off at 6:30 p.m. on January 9th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday.
