Basketball Game Preview: El Rancho Dons vs. Payson Lions

The El Rancho Dons will take on the Payson Lions in a tournament on Wednesday.

El Rancho is probably headed into the game with a chip on their shoulder considering Temple City just ended the team's four-game winning streak on Monday. They took a 57-50 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Rams.

Meanwhile, Payson put another one in the bag on Friday to keep their perfect season alive. They snuck past Salem Hills with a 70-64 win. While the Lions didn't have the best season last year (they finished 7-14), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past.

Payson's win came from a few key players El Rancho will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Kade Jenson, who went 6 for 12 on his way to 18 points in addition to five boards and three steals. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in points. The team also got some help courtesy of Micah Swasey, who went 6 of 11 on his way to 13 points and five rebounds.

Payson was working as a unit and finished the game with 18 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Salem Hills only racked up ten assists.

Payson's victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 7-0. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 68.7 points per game. As for El Rancho, their defeat dropped their record down to 6-4.