By TYLER HENRY
Little Apple Post contributor
After eliminating Abilene 54-50 in front of the Mustang faithful, the Rock Creek boys' basketball team will make the trek to Hugoton on Friday to battle the #5 team in Class 4A for a ticket to this year's state tournament.
The Mustangs enter this matchup as the 8-seed at 13-8 while the Eagles come in as the 1-seed at 19-2 after knocking off Winfield in a 97-61 outburst on Tuesday evening.
Rock Creek has now won four of their last five games, and looked exceptionally sharp against a budding rival in Abilene as they avenged the loss that ended their season a year ago.
"I thought our intensity and willingness to defend throughout the game made the difference," Mustang head coach Justin Smith said. "We made some mistakes offensively but defensively we were good."
The Mustangs will need that same level of defensive excellence on Friday night against an Eagles offense averaging just shy of 70 points per game and coming off a new high watermark this Tuesday.
"[Hugoton] is extremely talented," Smith said. "They have two guys that are as good of offensive players as we have seen all year. They also do a great job rebounding the ball."
In order to pull off the upset of this year's bracket 1-seed, Rock Creek must find an answer for the dynamic duo of Ryle Riddlesperger and Carson Bennett, who have terrorized opposing defenses all season long.
"We are going to have to try to limit their two best players and compete on the boards," Smith said. "If we do that we will stay in the game."
Tip-off between the Mustangs and Eagles is scheduled for 6:00 at Hugoton High School, with the winner officially punching one of eight tickets to the 4A state tournament in Salina next week.
For continuing coverage of Rock Creek boys' and girls' basketball all postseason long, stay tuned to the Little Apple Post, and follow us on Twitter @spostsports.