Basketball Recap: Encinal Comes Up Short

If Encinal was riding high fresh off their 74-50 takedown of Concord last Friday, their most recent game may have dampened their spirits a bit. The Encinal Jets opened the new year with a less-than-successful 69-60 loss to the San Marin Mustangs. The defeat continues a trend for the Jets in their matchups with the Mustangs: they've now lost three in a row.

San Marin was led to victory by Grant Means and J.D. Rhodes. Means went 7 of 15 on his way to 21 points along with six rebounds and five steals, while Rhodes went 7 of 14 en route to 18 points and five assists. Rhodes is trending in the right direction considering he's improved his point production for three straight games. The team also got some help courtesy of Joey Engler, who posted nine points.

Encinal's loss dropped their record down to 5-4. As for San Marin, their victory was their fourth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 7-5.

Encinal and San Marin should be looking forward to their upcoming games as both have a sizable advantage in the MaxPreps California Rankings. Encinal (ranked 529th) will meet Balboa (ranked 1096th) at 6:00 p.m. on Monday. Similarly, San Marin (ranked 330th) will meet Novato (ranked 801st) at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.