South Shelby is 2-8 against Van-Far since January of 2016 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The South Shelby Cardinals will head out on the road to square off against the Van-Far Indians at 7:00 p.m.
Last Friday, South Shelby was the victim of a tough 47-25 loss at the hands of Palmyra. While losing is never fun, South Shelby can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Missouri basketball rankings (they are ranked 302nd, while Palmyra is ranked 63rd).
Meanwhile, Van-Far stacked a tenth blowout win onto their ever-increasing hoard on Monday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Missouri Military Academy 82-31 at home. The match was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point Van-Far had established a 38 point advantage.
It was another big night for Nikos Connaway, who almost dropped a double-double on 17 points and nine assists. He is on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed two or more in the last ten games he's played. Carter Jennings was another key contributor, scoring 14 points along with two steals.
This is the second loss in a row for South Shelby and nudges their season record down to 8-10. As for Van-Far, their victory was their eighth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 16-5.
South Shelby beat Van-Far 61-53 in their previous matchup back in January of 2023. The rematch might be a little tougher for South Shelby since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
