Preview: Rich Rebels vs. North Summit Braves
Rich has enjoyed a two-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will wrap up 2023 with a road trip to face off against the North Summit Braves at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. Hopefully Rich focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 23 last Thursday.
Last Thursday, Rich beat Cokeville 53-44. The win was all the more spectacular given Rich's disadvantage in MaxPreps's basketball rankings in their respective home states (they are ranked 91st in Utah, while Cokeville is ranked 26th in Wyoming).
Rich's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Ridge Lundgren, who scored 19 points along with three steals. Carter Hoffman was another key contributor, dropping a double-double on 11 points and ten rebounds.
Meanwhile, North Summit strolled past Manila with points to spare on Thursday, taking the game 63-49. The win made it back-to-back wins for North Summit.
North Summit's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Buck Sargent, who dropped a double-double on 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Trevor Richins, who scored 22 points along with seven rebounds and five assists. The contest was Sargent's ninth in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Tate Richins, who scored six points.
Rich's record now sits at 2-3. As for North Summit, they are on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six games, which provided a nice bump to their 7-3 record this season.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as the two teams are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Rich hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having only averaged 55.4 points per game. It's a different story for North Summit, though, as they've been averaging only 56.9 points per game. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Rich beat North Summit 61-54 in their previous meeting back in December of 2022. The rematch might be a little tougher for Rich since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
