Basketball Game Preview: River City Raiders vs. Pioneer Patriots

The River City Raiders will square off against the Pioneer Patriots at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Having both just faced considerable losses, both teams are looking to turn things around.

River City is coming in off a wild two-game stretch: after soaring to 71 points on Wednesday, they were much more limited against Sacramento on Friday. They had to suffer through a 80-27 loss at the hands of the Dragons. The defeat continues a trend for the Raiders in their matchups with the Dragons: they've now lost three in a row.

Meanwhile, Pioneer was beaten by Rodriguez 90-63 on Friday. While losing is never fun, the Patriots can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 970th, while the Mustangs are ranked 198th).

Pioneer has been struggling recently as they've lost six of their last seven contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 6-12 record this season. That patch can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 51.4 points per game. As for River City, their loss dropped their record down to 5-13.

River City lost to Pioneer on the road by a decisive 67-49 margin when the teams last played back in January of 2018. Thankfully for River City, Ricardo Lopez (who went 7 of 14 on his way to 23 points and seven rebounds) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.