The Osceola Bulldogs will head out on the road to challenge the Heartland Huskies at 7:45 p.m. on Thursday. Osceola is coming into the matchup hot, having won their last seven games.
Last Friday, everything came up roses for Osceola on the road against Meridian as the squad secured a 62-20 victory. Given Osceola's advantage in MaxPreps' Nebraska basketball rankings (they are ranked 71st, while Meridian is ranked 252nd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Kale Gustafson was his usual excellent self, dropping a double-double on 17 points and 16 rebounds. Gustafson is crushing the point category: he's posted at least 17 every time he's taken the court this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Kelby Neujahr, who scored 15 points along with two steals.
Heartland won a close one the last time they played, but unfortunately they suffered a serious change of fortune on Tuesday. They were beaten by Centennial 57-23. Heartland has not had much luck with Centennial recently, as the team's come up short the last three times they've met.
Osceola has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won eight of their last nine games, which provided a nice bump to their 14-4 record this season. As for Heartland, their defeat dropped their record down to 6-10.
Osceola was able to grind out a solid win over Heartland when the teams last played back in February of 2023, winning 76-66. The rematch might be a little tougher for Osceola since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
