Basketball Game Preview: Wayne City Indians vs. North Clay/Clay City

The Wayne City Indians will take on North Clay/Clay City in a holiday battle at at 8:30 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.

Wayne City saw some tournament action on Wednesday. They came out on top in a nail-biter against Grayville, sneaking past 62-60.

James Walker continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, almost dropping a double-double on 27 points and nine rebounds. The contest was his tenth in a row with at least ten points. Rhyver Tibbs was another key player, dropping a double-double on 11 points and 13 boards.

Wayne City smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 15 offensive rebounds. That's the most offensive boards they've posted since back in December of 2023.

Meanwhile, North Clay/Clay City had already won four in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 20.8 points) and they went ahead and made it five on Thursday. They walked away with a 72-60 win over Thompsonville. While North Clay/Clay City didn't have the best season last year (they finished 13-18), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past.

Wayne City is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four games, which provided a nice bump to their 5-5 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 63.3 points per game. As for North Clay/Clay City, their victory bumped their record up to 8-2.

Wayne City ended up a good deal behind North Clay/Clay City in their previous meeting back in December of 2023, losing 59-45. Can Wayne City avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.