Charleston High boys basketball rolls into this game after beating Effingham on Tuesday night. Here is the preview of tonight’s game. 

Team Records: Charleston (14-9, 6-3) @ Mahomet-Seymour (12-12, 4-5)

Where: Mahomet-Seymour High School

Tickets: Tickets can be purchased at Mahomet-Seymour High School

School Size: Charleston (796), Mahomet-Seymour (943)

JV Tip-Off: 6:00 p.m.

Varsity Tip-Off: 7:30 p.m.

Opponent’s History: Ryan Bosch is in his fourth season as the head coach of the Bulldogs. In his first season, the team went 12-17. That was followed by a 19-11 record in 2019-2020 and a second-place finish in the Apollo Conference. Last year, the Bulldogs were 9-4 in the shortened season. 

Mahomet-Seymour’s Past Results: Since last playing Charleston, the Bulldogs have defeated Effingham twice and Taylorville in the conference. Outside of the conference, the team has posted big wins over Lincoln-Way West, Washington, and Normal West. The team has dropped games to Mattoon, Mt. Zion, and Normal West in the last few weeks, but appears to finally be at full strength. 

“We’ve had a large number of leading scorers this season given the conditions of the pandemic,” said Bosch. “We’ve had over 12 different starting lineups. Any of our starters are often capable of being our leading scorer or rebounder. We’ve finally started to get healthy and have our full roster available here the last few weeks. We’ve been playing much more like the team I anticipated us being at the start of the season. We’ve still got some kinks to iron out as the end of the season approaches. We’re really looking forward to welcoming Charleston into our gym and the chance at a rematch this week. I’ve really enjoyed watching their team play this season, given how much of their team returned from last year it’s exciting to see kids grow and get better in the game.”

Mahomet-Seymour’s Top Players: Brian Wolters, a top pitching prospect in the state, has verbally committed to play baseball at Purdue. Wolters leads the Bulldogs in scoring. Dream Eagle-Morgan was Apollo’s top wide receiver this past football season and is listed at 6-foot-3 and 180 pounds. Nolan Nierenhausen, a senior, appears to be another scorer for the team. 

Mahomet-Seymour’s Team Stats:  Mahomet-Seymour is averaging 52.8 points per game and allowing 51.3 points per game. 

Charleston’s Past Results: Charleston defeated Mahomet-Seymour earlier this season 42-41 thanks to a game-winning shot from Grady Smitley. In the last few weeks, Charleston beat Effingham and has dropped games to undefeated Olney and Apollo Conference leader Lincoln.

Charleston’s Team Stats: In the first meeting with Mahomet, Jaksen Braun led the team with 14 points. Caleb Oakley added four 3-pointers for 12 points. Charleston is averaging 55.1 points per game and allowing 53.0 points per game. 

What Mahomet-Seymour Said: “Charleston is playing really well this season,” said Bosch. “It was a great high school basketball game the first time around, and they hit a tough shot at the end to win it. We’ll have to play much better and limit their ability to get downhill and find the paint better than we did last game. It’ll be a tall task.”

What Charleston Said: “It will be another tough Apollo conference opponent,” said Drone. “We held them to 41 points last time and we kept them out of the lane and made them take outside shots. Seymour is much improved with their 6’9 center now playing as well as so other contributors that were hurt on in quarantine the last time we played. We have struggled getting good looks on the offensive end lately so executing our offense is a high priority. Defensively, we have been very sporadic. At times we’re focused and look great but at other times we struggle to stay focused. We need to learn more consistency on the defensive end.”