Preview: River Valley Dust Devils vs. American Leadership Academy - West Foothills Guardians
River Valley has been on the road for three straight, but on Wednesday they'll finally head home. They will take on the American Leadership Academy - West Foothills Guardians at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.
River Valley fought the good fight in their overtime game against Madison Highland Prep on Monday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They took a 75-64 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Heat. Having run the score up that high, both teams probably have some extra defensive drills coming up.
Despite their loss, River Valley saw several players rise to the challenge and make noteworthy plays. Nysaiah Vargas, who scored 17 points along with nine assists and seven steals, was perhaps the best of all. Vargas scored a full 26.6% of River Valley's points, the third time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Daniel Sesma, who scored 12 points along with nine blocks and eight rebounds.
Meanwhile, American Leadership Academy - West Foothills' recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Friday after their fourth straight loss. They ended up on the wrong side of a tough 74-53 walloping at the hands of Arizona Lutheran Academy. While losing is never fun, American Leadership Academy - West Foothills can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Arizona basketball rankings (they are ranked 186th, while Arizona Lutheran Academy is ranked 22nd).
River Valley's defeat was their fourth straight on the road dating back to last season, which bumped their record down to 0-4. That rough patch can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 53.3 points per game. As for American Leadership Academy - West Foothills, their loss dropped their record down to 4-7.
River Valley was dealt a bruising 82-36 loss at the hands of American Leadership Academy - West Foothills when the teams last played back in January. Thankfully for River Valley, Jay Juan Gould (who scored 16 points along with seven rebounds and seven steals) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
