Crosstown Rivalry Renewed in Boys Basketball as Central Travels to North County Tonight on J98

(Bonne Terre) Another MAAA Large School battle gets underway tonight on J98 as the Central Rebels boys basketball team makes the short trek up to Bonne Terre to take on the North County Raiders.

The Rebels have been dominant in this matchup in recent years, going 15-2 against the Raiders dating back to 2013.

Central has also won five-straight against North County, including a 60-56 win in the semifinals of this year’s Central Christmas Tournament.

After his team earned that gritty win against North County back on December 30th, Rebels’ head coach Brad Gross said he liked how his young team played.

Since finishing in second at the Christmas Tournament, Central has gone 2-2 with losses to Farmington and Sikeston.

North County on the other hand still has only one loss on the season, which of course came at the hands of the Rebels.

Karter Kekec, a standout senior for the Raiders, is nearing 100% as he made his full-time return this week which should have North County rounding into form sooner than later.

Raiders’ head coach Jimmy Palmer says the focus against Central this time around will be on limiting the production of the Rebels’ young scorers.