The Cleveland Central Wolves and the Simmons Blue Devils will round out the year against one another at at 2:30 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Cleveland Central has four straight victories, Simmons has 11 straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the court.
Cleveland Central will bounce into Friday's contest after beating Yazoo City, who they had gone 1-8 against in their nine prior meetings. Cleveland Central narrowly escaped with a win as the team sidled past Yazoo City 41-38. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest victory the Wolves have posted since November 21st.
Meanwhile, Simmons came up short against Leflore County on Friday and fell 69-56. While losing is never fun, the Blue Devils can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Mississippi basketball rankings (they are ranked 261st, while the Tigers are ranked 94th).
Cleveland Central will have to contain Carl Lucas Jr. as he made an impact in Simmons' last game. He dropped a double-double on 22 points and 12 rebounds. Lucas Jr. is on a roll when it comes to rebounds, as he's now pulled down 12 or more in the last three games he's played. Another player making a difference was Lebron Morris, who went 5 of 6 en route to 10 points and seven rebounds.
Even though they lost, Simmons smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 12 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 11 offensive rebounds in four consecutive matchups.
Simmons' defeat dropped their record down to 0-9. As for Cleveland Central, they are on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight games, which provided a nice bump to their 12-3 record this season.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
