Basketball Game Preview: Heritage Eagles vs. Mountain Vista Golden Eagles

Heritage is 1-9 against Mountain Vista since January of 2015 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. It'll be Battle of the Birds when the Heritage Eagles face off against the Mountain Vista Golden Eagles at 7:00 p.m. One thing working in Heritage's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points in their last eight contests.

Last Saturday, Heritage lost to Monarch on the road by a 81-67 margin. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on Friday (55), the Eagles still had to take the loss.

Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the best came from Charlie Gilloth, who went 7 of 16 on his way to 17 points. His afternoon made it four games in a row in which he has scored at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Brayden Chaney, who went 5 of 10 on his way to 12 points in addition to seven boards and three steals.

Meanwhile, Mountain Vista faced Eaglecrest in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Tuesday. Mountain Vista fell just short of Eaglecrest by a score of 69-66. The Golden Eagles' loss signaled the end of their three-game winning streak.

Like Mountain Vista, they lost despite seeing results from several players. Oliver Junker led the charge by almost dropping a double-double on 15 points and nine rebounds. Junker is on a roll when it comes to boards, as he's now pulled down eight or more in the last six games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Cal Baskind, who went 6 of 11 on his way to 17 points.

Even though they lost, Mountain Vista smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 15 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 13 offensive rebounds in three consecutive games.

Heritage's defeat dropped their record down to 6-6. As for Mountain Vista, their loss dropped their record down to 8-4.

Heritage might still be hurting after the 80-58 defeat they got from Mountain Vista when the teams last played back in February of 2024. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Baskind, who went 6 of 9 from beyond the arc on his way to 41 points and three steals. Now that Heritage knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.