The Pender Pendragons waltzed into their matchup on Tuesday with eight straight wins but they left with nine. They took down Oakland-Craig 60-45. That's two games straight that Pender has won by exactly 15 points.
Pender's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Trevor Trimble led the charge by scoring nine points along with eight assists. It was the first time this season that Trimble posted eight or more assists. Aiden Beckman was another key contributor, scoring 13 points along with seven rebounds and five assists.
Oakland-Craig lost despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Isaak Maxwell, who scored 15 points along with three steals. Maxwell has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last three times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Braylon Anderson, who scored nine points along with eight assists and seven rebounds.
Oakland-Craig struggled to get the ball back on offense and finished the game with only four offensive rebounds. They were crushed by their opponents in that department as Pender pulled down 14 offensive rebounds.
Pender's win bumped their record up to 15-3. As for Oakland-Craig, their defeat dropped their record down to 9-8.
Pender will square off against the Tigers at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. The matchup should be an exciting one, as these teams are closely ranked in Nebraska (North Bend Central is ranked 72nd, while the Pendragons are ranked 86th). Oakland-Craig will get a bit of extra time to process the loss as their next game is a ways off. They'll take on the Cadets at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.
