Basketball Game Preview: Buena Park Coyotes vs. Valencia Tigers

The Buena Park Coyotes will venture away from home to challenge the Valencia Tigers at 6:15 p.m. on Friday. The squads are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Buena Park has struggled recently with three defeats in a row, while Valencia will arrive with three straight wins.

Last Monday, Buena Park ended up a good deal behind Laguna Hills and lost 84-67.

Despite the loss, Buena Park got top-tier performance from Emmanuel Charagu, who posted 26 points and five steals. Those five steals gave Charagu a new career-high. Ernesto Portas was another key player, dropping a double-double on 19 points and ten rebounds.

Meanwhile, Valencia strolled past Santa Ana with points to spare on Wednesday, taking the game 68-52. Given the Tigers' advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 408th, while the Saints are ranked 1005th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Valencia is also on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six matches, which provided a nice bump to their 18-7 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 72.3 points per game. As for Buena Park, their defeat dropped their record down to 5-19.

Buena Park was dealt a bruising 87-51 loss at the hands of Valencia in their previous matchup two weeks ago. That game was all but decided by halftime, at which point Buena Park was down 44-22.