Preview: Parkland Matadors vs. Ysleta Indians
Parkland and Ysleta are an even 5-5 against one another since December of 2019, but not for long. The Parkland Matadors will stay at home for another game and welcome the Ysleta Indians at 6:00 p.m. on January 23rd. Hopefully Parkland focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 30 on Tuesday.
Parkland suffered their biggest defeat since December 15, 2023 on Tuesday. They ended up on the wrong side of a rough 61-37 walloping at the hands of Hanks.
Despite their defeat, Parkland saw several players rise to the challenge and make noteworthy plays. Jayden Whitt, who scored 15 points along with three steals, was perhaps the best of all. Whitt continues to roll, besting his previous point total in each of the last three games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Anthony Allen, who scored nine points along with five rebounds.
Meanwhile, Ysleta had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 18 points), and they went ahead and made it three on Tuesday. They came out on top against Del Valle by a score of 61-52.
It was another big night for Azaiah Thompson, who scored 28 points along with nine rebounds and two steals. He has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last nine times he's played. Another player making a difference was Matthew Gonzalez, who scored 15 points along with five rebounds and two steals.
Parkland bumped their record down to 8-15 with that defeat, which was their fourth straight at home. As for Ysleta, they are on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six matchups, which provided a massive bump to their 13-8 record this season.
Keep an eye on the arc in Tuesday's game: Parkland have made nailing deep shots look easy this year this season, having only averaged 4 threes per game. It's a different story for Ysleta, though, as they've been averaging only 5.4 threes per game. Given Parkland's sizeable advantage in that area, Ysleta will need to find a way to close that gap.
Parkland came up short against Ysleta in their previous matchup back in November of 2023, falling 49-43. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Thompson, who scored 19 points along with two steals. Now that Parkland knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
