Basketball Game Preview: Yucaipa Thunderbirds vs. Redlands East Valley Wildcats

Yucaipa is 2-8 against Redlands East Valley since January of 2020 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The Yucaipa Thunderbirds will host the Redlands East Valley Wildcats at 7:00 p.m.

Yucaipa is headed into the matchup having just suffered their biggest loss since February 10, 2024 on Saturday. They came up short against Oak Hills, falling 73-49.

Meanwhile, even if it wasn't a dominant performance, Redlands East Valley beat Cajon 74-69 on Thursday. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Wildcats.

Yucaipa better keep an eye on Dariel Bahamontes. He was instrumental in Redlands East Valley's win, dropping a double-double on 30 points and 18 rebounds. That's the most points Bahamontes has posted since back in December of 2024. Mark Huynh was another key player, going 6 for 10 en route to 18 points.

Redlands East Valley was working as a unit and finished the game with 18 assists. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their assist total in three consecutive games.

Redlands East Valley has been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five contests, which provided a nice bump to their 13-12 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 64.2 points per game. As for Yucaipa, their defeat dropped their record down to 20-4.

Yucaipa beat Redlands East Valley 69-59 in their previous matchup on January 9th. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Redlands East Valley's Demaj Moore, who almost dropped a double-double on 25 points and nine boards. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Yucaipa still be able to contain Moore? There's only one way to find out.