Basketball Preview: Sacramento Country Day Cavaliers vs. Valley Christian Lions
Sacramento Country Day is 2-8 against the Lions since January of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Saturday. The Sacramento Country Day Cavaliers will be playing at home against the Valley Christian Lions at 7:30 p.m. The squads are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Sacramento Country Day has struggled recently with three defeats in a row, while the Lions will arrive with three straight victories.
Sacramento Country Day struggled with threes on Thursday (the Patriots had ten more) and sadly the final score reflected it. Sacramento Country Day was outmatched by the Patriots on the road and fell 87-44. Sacramento Country Day was in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 44-22.
Despite the defeat, Sacramento Country Day got a solid performance out of Parker Byers, who scored 17 points along with five rebounds. Another player making a difference was Derek Taylor, who scored eight points along with six rebounds.
Meanwhile, Valley Christian can now show off 14 landslide victories after their most recent game on Thursday. They blew past Cristo Rey 66-13 on the road. The game was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 42-6.
Valley Christian's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Ian Glaspy, who scored 18 points along with seven rebounds and six assists. Malachi Urena was another key contributor, scoring 15 points.
Sacramento Country Day has traveled a rocky road recently having lost seven of their last eight matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 8-11 record this season. As for Valley Christian, their win was their fifth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 16-9.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Sacramento Country Day have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 28.3 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Valley Christian struggles in that department as they've been averaging 46.2 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Sacramento Country Day was taken down by the Lions 89-32 in their previous meeting back in January. The matchup was all but decided by halftime, at which point Sacramento Country Day was down 60-18.
