Basketball Game Preview: Maple Grove Red Dragons vs. Westfield Wolverines

The Maple Grove Red Dragons will face off against the Westfield Wolverines at 7:30 p.m. on Monday. Maple Grove has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the match with four straight defeats, while Westfield will come in with eight straight wins.

It's never fun to lose, and it's even less fun to lose 69-25, which was the final score in Maple Grove's tilt against Randolph two weeks ago.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Westfield). They simply couldn't be stopped on Saturday as they easily beat Gowanda 88-51. The Wolverines have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won seven contests by 22 points or more this season.

Westfield had a senior duo take command as Zach Maguire shot 4-for-6 from long range and dropped a double-double on 32 points and 19 rebounds and Carson Swanson went 8 of 18 on his way to 27 points along with six assists and six steals. The game was Swanson's 31st in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Grant Beadle, who dropped a double-double on ten points and 11 boards.

Westfield's victory was their 13th straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 8-1. As for Maple Grove, their loss dropped their record down to 0-3.

Maple Grove came up short against Westfield in their previous matchup back in February of 2024, falling 72-62. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Swanson, who posted 46 points in addition to five assists and four steals. Now that Maple Grove knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.