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Norfolk comes in to play Bellevue West. Omaha Central goes out to play Kearney. Conference finals galore.

A Big Monday, for sure.

Thanks to the weekend snowstorm, Monday is a bonus for high school basketball fans — a bookend to last week and the start of a week that ends Saturday with Top 10 No. 3 Papillion-La Vista's game at Central and the Heartland Hoops Classic in Grand Island.

Bellevue West will be the last of six Metro Conference teams Norfolk plays in the regular season — but the only one that currently has a winning record.

How Norfolk would fare — specifically, would it be unbeaten — against Central's schedule is a fair question. It's being asked as the Panthers pursue their first undefeated regular season since 1936-37 (they finished 23-1 with a loss to champion Omaha South in the state semifinals).

Like Norfolk-Bellevue West, Central-Kearney is a makeup game from Saturday. Central coach Eric Behrens said he wanted to make the trip to Kearney (13-6) if possible. Even on a Monday, the lure of the state's powerhouse making its first visit to central Nebraska should fill up the Bearcats' gym.

Central's 28-game winning streak, by the way, is the longest in Class A since Millard South ran off 30 straight ending in December 1989.

As for the conference tournaments, some of the better finals Monday are Kearney Catholic-Ravenna for the Lou-Platte title at St. Paul, Boone Central-Pierce for the Mid-State title in Wayne and Loomis-Overton for the Fort Kearny title in Kearney.

Three-game week for Papio: The Monarchs, who have more wins (15-2) than in the four previous seasons combined, take a seven-game winning streak into a home makeup game Tuesday against No. 9 Lincoln Southeast. A home game Friday against Omaha Northwest precedes the 4:45 p.m. game Saturday at Central.

Heartland Classic: Early arrivals Saturday to the Heartland Event Center at Grand Island's Fonner Park get to see one of the day's two ratings matchups — Class D-2 No. 1 Giltner against D-1 No. 7 Overton at 9 a.m. At 2:15 p.m. is C-1 No. 6 Norfolk Catholic against C-2 No. 2 Sutton.

Class B No. 2 South Sioux City plays Grand Island (9-7) in the 7:30 p.m. prime-time game. The Cardinals have a Friday night home game against Class B No. 4 Omaha Gross.

Statistics due: Coaches of Class A, Class B and other Omaha-area schools are reminded that updated statistics reports are due by Tuesday night.

Top games this week:

Class A — Monday: Central at Kearney, Norfolk at Bellevue West. Tuesday: Lincoln SE at Papillion-LV, Benson at Bryan. Thursday: Lincoln Pius X at Lincoln SE. Friday: Bellevue West at Omaha North, Grand Island at Lincoln North Star, Omaha South at Omaha Bryan. Saturday: Papillion-LV at Central, Bellevue West at Millard North, Lincoln North Star at Kearney, Omaha Benson at Lincoln SW.

Class B — Tuesday: Sidney at Gering, Sioux City Heelan at Omaha Skutt. Thursday: McCook at Gering. Friday: Omaha Gross at S. Sioux City. Saturday: Lincoln Pius X at Omaha Skutt, McCook at Scottsbluff.

Class C-1 — Tuesday: Hastings SC at Adams Central, Neb. City at Falls City. Thursday: Ravenna at Adams Central, North Platte SP at Hershey. Friday: Wahoo Neumann at Fremont Bergan, Lincoln Christian at Boys Town, Hemingford at Kimball. Saturday: Plattsmouth at Milford, Wayne at W. Point GACC.

Class C-2 — Tuesday: Lincoln Christian at Johnson County. Friday: Burwell at Grand Island Heartland Lutheran. Saturday: Hartington CC at Norfolk Lutheran.

Class D-1 — Tuesday: Howells at Bancroft-Rosalie, McCook Junction at Exeter-Milligan, O'Neill SM at West Boyd. Friday: High Plains at BDS, Paxton at Hayes Center.

Class D-2 — Friday: Loomis at Pleasanton. Conference tournament — Lewis & Clark, semifinals Monday at Hartington and final Wednesday at Laurel.

Contact the writer:

402-444-1041, stu.pospisil@owh.com

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