Basketball Game Preview: Aquinas Academy Crusaders vs. Nazareth Prep Saints

The Aquinas Academy Crusaders will venture away from home to take on the Nazareth Prep Saints at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

Aquinas Academy took a loss when they played away from home on Sunday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Tuesday. They put the hurt on Avella with a sharp 82-57 victory. Given the Crusaders' advantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania basketball rankings (they are ranked 204th, while the Eagles are ranked 496th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, Nazareth Prep had already won five in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 25.8 points) and they went ahead and made it six on Tuesday. They took their game with ease, bagging an 87-35 win over the Raiders. The high-flying offensive performance was a huge turnaround for the Saints considering their 26-point performance the contest before.

Nazareth Prep pushed their record up to 16-4 with the victory, which was their fifth straight on the road. Those victories came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 29.4 points per game. As for Aquinas Academy, their win bumped their record up to 13-4.

Aquinas Academy came up short against Nazareth Prep when the teams last played back in January, falling 87-80. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Nazareth Prep's Will Evans Jr, who dropped a double-double on 35 points and ten boards. Now that Aquinas Academy knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.