The Washburn Rural Blues will head out on the road to take on the Manhattan Indians at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Washburn Rural has six straight victories, Manhattan has five straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the court.
Washburn Rural is headed into the contest after thoroughly thrashing Topeka: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Washburn Rural blew Topeka out of the water with a 72-42 final score. The matchup was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point the Blues had established a 22 point advantage.
Washburn Rural can attribute much of their success to Kaden Ballard, who went 5-for-7 on his way to 13 points and three steals, and Brooks Ballard, who went 5-for-9 to rack up 13 points and five boards. What's more, Kaden also posted a 75% three-point shooting accuracy, which is the highest he's achieved since back in January of 2024. Another player making a difference was Simon Rowley, who posted nine points and five rebounds.
Washburn Rural smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive boards. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their offensive rebound total in three consecutive games.
Manhattan might be feeling deja-vu: they lost 66-65 to Emporia, which was the same score (and result) they got the week prior.
Washburn Rural pushed their record up to 15-4 with the win, which was their third straight on the road. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 67.0 points over those games. As for Manhattan, their defeat dropped their record down to 6-15.
Everything came up roses for Washburn Rural against Manhattan in their previous meeting on February 11th, as the team secured a 74-45 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Washburn Rural since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
