Basketball Game Preview: Riverside Christian Crusaders vs. DeSales Irish

The Riverside Christian Crusaders will take on the DeSales Irish at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

Riverside Christian will head into Tuesday's game on the come-up: they were handed a heart-breaking three-point loss in their last matchup, but they sure didn't let that happen against Walla Walla Valley Academy on Tuesday. Riverside Christian blew past Walla Walla Valley Academy 80-54.

Riverside Christian can attribute much of their success to Micah Morgan, who went 11 of 23 en route to 25 points, and Haydn Edwards, who posted 21 points. With that strong performance, Edwards is now averaging an impressive 15.1 points per game. The team also got some help courtesy of Micah Rivera, who went 5 for 8 on his way to 11 points.

Meanwhile, DeSales came tearing into Friday's contest with 12 straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 29.1 points) and they left with even more momentum. They blew past the Tigers, posting a 78-29 win. Given the Irish's advantage in MaxPreps' Washington basketball rankings (they are ranked 89th, while the Tigers are ranked 377th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Riverside Christian has also been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 10-6 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 74.3 points per game. As for DeSales, their victory was their sixth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 15-1.

Riverside Christian was taken down by DeSales 85-45 in their previous matchup back in December of 2024. Can Riverside Christian avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.