Sergeant Bluff-Luton-Sioux City East Preview
Friday, January 25: Sergeant Bluff-Luton at Sioux City East 7:00pm CT
SIOUX CITY— We get Round 2 between the Warriors and Black Raiders on Friday night at East High School. The two teams last faced off on Dec. 14 when East pulled off a dramatic, yet controversial, 74-73 overtime victory. The foul called on Sergeant Bluff-Luton senior Sam DeMoss as East senior Aidan Vanderloo drove the lane with four seconds remaining in overtime will be something in the back of Warrior fans’ minds heading into Friday’s Missouri River Conference matchup.
Four of the past five meetings between these two programs have been decided by two points or less with East winning four of those. Both East and Sergeant Bluff-Luton are evenly matched up with three big playmakers, along with other crucial role players that can step up and make big plays too. It should be another barn burner when all is said and done on Friday night.
“I think it will be a tough game. Our games the past few years have been very competitive,” said East Head Coach Ras Vanderloo. “They (SB-L) have a lot of weapons like (Sam) DeMoss and (Conner) Groves. I mean they come at you in different ways and are big inside and big outside. They have good guard play and we’re preparing for everything.”
Vanderloo’s Black Raiders enter Friday’s game unbeaten at 12-0 and benefit from a week off with the injuries this team has dealt with as of late. No one benefited more than big-man Javonte Keck, who sat out against Sioux City West on January 15 with concussion-like symptoms and a banged up elbow. While East has star power with Keck, Aidan Vanderloo and Jaleque Dunson, Adam Vander Schaaf’s Warriors are hoping they’ll be the ones to end East’s perfect ride this season.
“They’ve (East) found a way to win some close games in the end this year, obviously that’s why they’re undefeated,” mentioned Vander Schaaf. ” It just comes down to simple things, and it’s not always the last play of the game either. It’s a lot of little things along the way.”
Sergeant Bluff-Luton will be play its third game of the week, after earning wins against Lewis Central and Bishop Heelan on Monday and Tuesday. DeMoss currently leads the Warriors with 15.0 PPG and came up big last time these two teams met by scoring 25 points.
We’ll get the much anticipated Javonte Keck and Daniel Wright matchup down low, which both players mentioned at practice this week they enjoy. While we expect to see big plays from both DeMoss and Conner Groves, all eyes will be on Aidan Vanderloo to see if he takes over the game as he did back in December. The senior scored a career-high 36 points in East’s win over Sergeant Bluff-Luton.
The Warriors, who seem to embrace the underdog role, are 2-18 all-time against the Black Raiders and have never won on their floor. If there was ever a time for Sergeant Bluff-Luton to snap that streak, now would be the time.