The Riverdale Baptist Crusaders will challenge the Fairfax Christian Cardinals at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. One thing working in Riverdale Baptist's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points in their last six contests.
Riverdale Baptist is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Maryland's top teams: Clinton Grace Christian, who was ranked 15th at the time (Riverdale Baptist was ranked 17th). Riverdale Baptist fell 76-66 to Clinton Grace Christian on Monday. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on Thursday (64), the Crusaders still had to take the loss.
Riverdale Baptist might have lost, but man, Cannon Greene was a machine: he went 6-for-11 en route to 26 points and five boards. Jacoby Briscoe was another key player, putting up 14 points.
Meanwhile, Fairfax Christian lost to St. John's on the road by a 64-50 margin on Friday. The Cardinals were down 57-36 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from.
Riverdale Baptist will have to keep a close watch on Messiah Dixon and Frank Siaca Bey, a pair of players who had a big impact on Fairfax Christian's prior game. Dixon went 5-for-12 on his way to 14 points in addition to seven steals and six assists, while Siaca Bey went 8-for-13 to rack up 18 points and seven rebounds. Siaca Bey is also on a roll when it comes to shooting accuracy, as he's posted one of at least 50% in the last 12 games he's played. Another player making a difference was Willie Bennett, who posted six points.
Even though they lost, Fairfax Christian smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 19 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 11 offensive rebounds in 26 consecutive matches.
Riverdale Baptist's defeat ended a four-game streak of away wins and brought them to 20-9. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 69.8 points over those games. As for Fairfax Christian, their loss dropped their record down to 19-11.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Riverdale Baptist has been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 28.8 boards per game. However, it's not like Fairfax Christian struggles in that department as they've been averaging 32.3 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Riverdale Baptist didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Fairfax Christian in their previous matchup back in January, but they still walked away with a 62-57 win. Will Riverdale Baptist repeat their success, or does Fairfax Christian have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
