Basketball Game Preview: River Islands Riptide vs. Venture Academy Mustangs

The River Islands Riptide will challenge the Venture Academy Mustangs at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.

River Islands is headed into the match out to prove that what happened against Ripon Christian on Wednesday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. River Islands was beaten by Ripon Christian 72-37. The game marked the Riptide's lowest-scoring contest so far this season.

Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Venture Academy, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Saturday. Their defense stepped up to hand Millennium a 2-0 shutout on Tuesday. Given the Mustangs' advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 367th, while the Falcons are ranked 1288th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Venture Academy pushed their record up to 11-6 with the victory, which was their eighth straight at home dating back to last season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 70.4 points per game. As for River Islands, their loss dropped their record down to 9-8.