Preview: River Dell Golden Hawks vs. Mahwah Thunderbirds
After six games on the road, River Dell is heading back home. They will take on the Mahwah Thunderbirds at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Hopefully River Dell focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up eight on Tuesday.
River Dell suffered their closest loss since December 30, 2023 on Tuesday. They fell just short of Pascack Hills by a score of 53-50. The defeat unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for River Dell in their matchups with Pascack Hills: they've now lost three in a row.
Despite their defeat, River Dell saw several players rise to the challenge and make noteworthy plays. Aditya Pandya, who dropped a double-double on 12 points and 11 rebounds, was perhaps the best of all. Sean Golden was another key contributor, scoring 15 points along with eight rebounds and three blocks.
Even though Mahwah has not done well against Ramsey recently (they were 2-7 in their previous nine matchups), they didn't let the past get in their way on Tuesday. Mahwah escaped with a win against Ramsey by the margin of a single free throw, 41-40. The victory was all the more spectacular given Mahwah's disadvantage in MaxPreps' New Jersey basketball rankings (they are ranked 219th, while Ramsey is ranked 40th).
River Dell's loss ended a four-game streak of away wins and brought them to 12-8. As for Mahwah, they now have a winning record of 12-11.
Everything went River Dell's way against Mahwah when the teams last played back in January as River Dell made off with a 61-41 win. Will River Dell repeat their success, or does Mahwah have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
