Preview: Whitinsville Christian Crusaders vs. Hopedale Blue Raiders
Whitinsville Christian is 1-9 against Hopedale since January of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The Whitinsville Christian Crusaders will be playing in front of their home fans against the Hopedale Blue Raiders at 6:30 p.m. The matchup should be an exciting one, as these teams are ranked near one another in Massachusetts (Whitinsville Christian is ranked 168th, while Hopedale is ranked 183rd).
Whitinsville Christian's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Friday after their third straight loss. Their tough 67-43 loss to Nipmuc Regional might stick with them for a while. Whitinsville Christian found out winning isn't easy when you nail five fewer threes than your opponent.
The match pitted two dominant players against one another in Caleb Deters and James McKinney. McKinney had a great game and scored 16 points. Meanwhile, Deters was balling out in the loss, scoring 16 points.
Hopedale posted their biggest victory yet this season on Friday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Blackstone-Millville 57-30 at home. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest victory Hopedale has posted against Blackstone-Millville since January 8, 2020.
Robbie Manning and Patrick Madden were among the main playmakers for Hopedale as the former scored 13 points and the latter scored 13 points. Cam Parker was another key contributor, scoring eight points along with eight rebounds.
Whitinsville Christian's defeat ended a 12-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 4-3. As for Hopedale, the win got them back to even at 5-5.
Keep an eye on the arc in Tuesday's match: Whitinsville Christian have made nailing deep shots look easy this year this season, having only averaged 4 threes per game. It's a different story for Hopedale, though, as they've been averaging only 6.2 threes per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Whitinsville Christian lost to Hopedale at home by a decisive 51-37 margin in their previous meeting back in February of 2023. Thankfully for Whitinsville Christian, Andrew Deppe (who scored 23 points) 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.
