Basketball Game Preview: East Palestine Bulldogs vs. Valley Christian Eagles

East Palestine hasn't had much luck against Valley Christian recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The East Palestine Bulldogs will be playing at home against the Valley Christian Eagles at 7:00 p.m. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both will really light up the scoreboard.

East Palestine is likely headed into the contest with a focus on the second half, which is when things went downhill against David Anderson on Tuesday. East Palestine fell just short of David Anderson by a score of 57-55. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest loss the Bulldogs have suffered since January 30, 2024.

Meanwhile, Valley Christian waltzed into their match on Tuesday with ten straight wins... but they left with 11. They blew past the Golden Eagles, posting a 67-30 victory. Given the Eagles' advantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 284th, while the Golden Eagles are ranked 799th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Valley Christian's win was their 15th straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 12-2. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 65.2 points per game. As for East Palestine, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 7-7.

East Palestine suffered a grim 74-50 defeat to Valley Christian when the teams last played on January 4th. That game was all but decided by halftime, at which point East Palestine was down 49-28.