Basketball Game Preview: Garces Memorial Rams vs. Liberty Patriots

Garces Memorial and Liberty are an even 5-5 against one another since January of 2019, but not for long. The Garces Memorial Rams will be playing in front of their home fans against the Liberty Patriots at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Given that both suffered a loss in their last games, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this game.

Garces Memorial managed to keep up with Frontier until halftime on Thursday, but things quickly went downhill from there. Garces Memorial came up short against Frontier, falling 63-38.

Meanwhile, Liberty came up short against Hanford on Saturday and fell 56-46. While losing is never fun, the Patriots can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 723rd, while the Bullpups are ranked 291st).

Liberty has been struggling recently as they've lost six of their last seven contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 7-12 record this season. As for Garces Memorial, they dropped their record down to 7-15 with the loss, which was their tenth straight on the road dating back to last season.

Garces Memorial came out on top in a nail-biter against Liberty when the teams last played back in January of 2024, sneaking past 60-57. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Liberty's Deshawn Usochu, who dropped a double-double on 31 points and 18 boards. Now that he won't be playing on Tuesday, will it be easier for Garces Memorial to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.