Call it the rubber match. After rivals Lafayette and Marquette met twice on the basketball court this season, with each team winning once, they will settle the score in the District semifinals tonight at 7 p.m. The winner will earn a trip to the Class 5, District 4 championship game against either Parkway South or Eureka, depending on who advances from the game scheduled at 5:30 p.m.
The Lancers will enter this matchup with all the momentum a team could ask for, following a 60-53 overtime win over Parkway South to claim a share of the Suburban West championship on Feb. 24.
“It gave us a lot of confidence. We know if we play together, as a team, we can play with the best,” senior Aareon Smith said.
Since beating the Mustangs 46-34 on Jan. 14, they have won 12 of their past 13 games and are currently riding an 11-game winning streak. With the win over Marquette, the Lancers avenged a 41-26 loss to the Mustangs in the Meramac Tournament earlier this season.
“When we played at Meramac, we weren’t playing as a team. We were selfish and we weren’t playing tough the first time,” senior Aareon Smith said.
While Smith and junior Joel Pennington have dominated the stat sheet throughout this season, averaging 15.3 and 15.1 ppg, respectively, juniors Luke Kreienkamp and Nick Messer have entered the scoring recently. They are now averaging 8.5 and 7.1 ppg apiece and have consisently been in double-figures during the team’s winning streak.
The winner of tonight’s games will meet for the District championship at 7 p.m. on Feb. 25 at Lafayette.
