Basketball Preview: Rider Raiders vs. Saginaw Rough Riders
The Rider Raiders will head out on the road to challenge the Saginaw Rough Riders at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Rider will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Texas Rankings (they are ranked 645th, while the Rough Riders are ranked 164th).
On Friday, Rider came up short against the Texans and fell 51-39. Rider has now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
The losing side was boosted by Caiden Reed, who scored 23 points along with five rebounds and three blocks. He has been hot recently, having posted 18 or more points the last three times he's played. Another player making a difference was Jared Cohee, who scored three points along with two steals.
Meanwhile, Saginaw scored the most points they've had all season to find success on Tuesday. They blew past Azle 93-40 at home. With Saginaw ahead 47-20 at the half, the match was all but over already.
Saginaw's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Julius Brundage led the charge by scoring 16 points along with six assists and five rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Jason Roseberry, who scored 17 points along with four steals.
Rider has not been sharp recently as the team's lost ten of their last 12 games, which put a noticeable dent in their 8-19 record this season. As for Saginaw, they have been performing well recently as they've won 16 of their last 20 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 23-7 record this season.
Tuesday's match is shaping up to be a masterclass in shooting: Rider have been dynamite from deep this season, having made 38.3% of their threes per game. However, it's not like Saginaw struggles in that department as they've made 42.4% of their threes this season. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Rider came up short against the Rough Riders in their previous meeting back in January, falling 58-49. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Saginaw's David Johnson, who scored 19 points along with six assists and four steals. Now that Rider knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
