Basketball Game Preview: Banning Pilots vs. Gardena Panthers

The Banning Pilots will face off against the Gardena Panthers at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. Both come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

Banning will bounce into Friday's contest after beating Narbonne, who they had gone 2-7 against in their nine prior meetings. Banning managed a 44-39 victory over Narbonne on Wednesday. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Pilots.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Gardena). They strolled past San Pedro with points to spare on Thursday, taking the game 51-37.

Banning is also on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four games, which provided a massive bump to their 6-7 record this season. The wins came thanks to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 21.3 points per game. As for Gardena, their win ended a three-game drought at home and bumped them up to 7-9.

Banning was able to grind out a solid victory over Gardena in their previous matchup back in February of 2024, winning 36-29. Will Banning repeat their success, or does Gardena have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.