The winning streak continued for the boys basketball team on Saturday, as they defeated bitter rival Howell (5-19) by a score of 66-54. The win was significant in the fact that with the victory, Central swept both of their district rivals, and ended their season on a four-game winning streak, after a struggling mid-half of the season.

The Spartans end their regular season with a record of 12-13, and while they finished below .500, they still earned the third seed in the upcoming district tournament. They have a tough task, however, as they will be facing Fort Zumwalt South (19-6) in the opening round.

Senior forward Ryan Howard, who led the team against Howell in scoring with 17 points, believes their record shouldn’t be intimidating.

“Zumwalt South is a great team, but despite their record, I still believe we can beat them,” Howard said.

Despite their 12-13 record overall, the Spartans garnered one of the best conference records this year in the GAC South, going 7-3 in conference games. The only team with a better conference record was Troy (9-1).

“We’ve been going over game film from Zumwalt South,” junior Heriberto Wyatt said. “We lost to them earlier in the year, but we’ve come a long way since then, and we are ready for them tomorrow night.”

Tomorrow, the Spartans road to state will kick off, and while they have a tough opponent to start off against, they are confident they can win. The Central/South game is scheduled to start at 8 p.m.

“For Districts, you have to win two games to win Districts,” Howard said. “If we lose, however, we are automatically eliminated.”