Ironwood Ridge is on a five-game streak of home wins, while Sahuaro is on a five-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. The Ironwood Ridge Nighthawks will host the Sahuaro Cougars at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Ironwood Ridge is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 58.1 points per game this season.
Ironwood Ridge is probably headed into the matchup with a chip on their shoulder considering Salpointe Catholic just ended the team's three-game winning streak on Friday. They received a blow as they fell 62-47 to the Lancers.
| 11/22/24 vs Pueblo | 12 |
| 01/17/25 @ Salpointe Catholic | 9 |
| 12/13/24 vs Marana | 7 |
| 12/12/24 @ ALA - Gilbert North | 7 |
| 12/19/24 vs Palo Verde | 5 |
Despite the loss, Ironwood Ridge had strong showings from Carter Brown, who posted 15 points and four steals, and Kyle Ray, who had nine points. That's the most points Ray has posted since back in November of 2024.
Meanwhile, Sahuaro didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Walden Grove on Friday, but they still walked away with a 66-62 win. Given the Cougars' advantage in MaxPreps' Arizona basketball rankings (they are ranked 12th, while the Red Wolves are ranked 161st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Ironwood Ridge better keep an eye on Cisco Llamas. He was instrumental in Sahuaro's win, dropping a double-double on 21 points and 11 steals. Llamas has been hot, having posted three or more steals the last six times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Isaac Teasley, who scored 11 points.
Sahuaro's victory bumped their record up to 16-1. As for Ironwood Ridge, their defeat ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 9-8.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Ironwood Ridge has been crashing the rebounds this season, having averaged 31.6 boards per game. However, it's not like Sahuaro struggles in that department as they've been averaging 28.8 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Ironwood Ridge was taken down by Sahuaro 67-39 in their previous matchup back in December of 2024. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Llamas, who went 6 for 9 from beyond the arc on his way to 28 points along with seven steals and six rebounds. Now that Ironwood Ridge knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
