The Mishawaka Marian Knights came tearing into Tuesday's matchup with six straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 26.3 points) and they left with even more momentum. They took down New Prairie 64-47. Given Mishawaka Marian's advantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 86th, while New Prairie is ranked 378th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Mishawaka Marian was led to victory by William Owens and Zion Rhoades. Owens scored 17 points along with eight rebounds and two steals, while Rhoades scored 23 points along with eight rebounds. Owens has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last three times he's played. Jackson Horvath was another key contributor, scoring 11 points.
Despite the loss, New Prairie still got an impressive performance from Marshall Kmiecik, who scored 11 points along with eight rebounds and two steals. It was the first time this season that Kmiecik pulled down eight or more rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Trenton Klute, who scored nine points.
Mishawaka Marian is on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine contests, which provided a massive bump to their 11-8 record this season. As for New Prairie, their loss dropped their record down to 4-16.
Both teams will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Mishawaka Marian won't have much time to rest: their next contest is against Glenn at 7:30 p.m. on February 7th. Hopefully Glenn focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 23 on Tuesday. As for New Prairie, they will head out on the road to challenge South Bend Adams at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. New Prairie is coming into the match with nine straight losses on the road, meaning South Bend Adams will have to defend against a squad hungry for a victory.
