Basketball Game Preview: San Mateo Bearcats vs. Burlingame Panthers

San Mateo is 2-8 against Burlingame since February of 2019 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Saturday. A feisty cat fight will be fought when the San Mateo Bearcats challenge the Burlingame Panthers at 6:00 p.m. Both come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

San Mateo will bounce into Saturday's match after beating Hillsdale, who they had gone 2-7 against in their nine prior meetings. San Mateo snuck past Hillsdale with a 45-41 victory on Monday. While the Bearcats didn't have the best season last year (they finished 11-14), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Burlingame). They enjoyed a cozy 74-60 win over Piedmont Hills on Thursday.

San Mateo is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four contests, which provided a nice bump to their 6-4 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 52.3 points per game. As for Burlingame, their victory bumped their record up to 5-6.

San Mateo came up short against Burlingame when the teams last played back in December of 2023, falling 51-40. Can San Mateo avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.