Basketball Game Preview: Merced Bears vs. Golden Valley Cougars

The Merced Bears will head out to take on the Golden Valley Cougars at 7:15 p.m. on Friday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.

Golden Valley will be up against a hot Merced team: the squad just extended their winning streak to four. Merced came out on top against Atwater by a score of 58-51 on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Golden Valley hadn't done well against El Capitan recently (they were 1-8 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Wednesday. Golden Valley walked away with a 66-58 victory over El Capitan. Winning may never get old, but the Cougars sure are getting used to it with their fifth in a row.

Merced pushed their record up to 18-9 with the win, which was their seventh straight on the road. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 61.3 points over those games. As for Golden Valley, their record is now 21-6.

Merced couldn't quite finish off Golden Valley in their previous meeting two weeks ago and fell 49-46. Can Merced avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.