Basketball Preview: Desert Vista Thunder vs. Highland Hawks
The Desert Vista Thunder will head out on the road to challenge the Highland Hawks at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. One thing working in Desert Vista's favor is that they have posted big point totals in their last 17 contests.
Even though Gilbert scored an imposing 58 points on Friday, Desert Vista still came out on top. Desert Vista snuck past the Tigers with a 63-58 win.
Desert Vista got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Damian (DJ) Spencer out in front who dropped a double-double on 12 points and ten rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Lorenzo (LJ) Diamond, who scored 17 points along with two steals.
Meanwhile, Highland beat the Jaguars 61-52 on Friday. Given Highland's advantage in MaxPreps' Arizona basketball rankings (they are ranked 24th, while the Jaguars are ranked 140th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Desert Vista has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 12 of their last 14 games, which provided a nice bump to their 18-7 record this season. As for Highland, they pushed their record up to 18-6 with that victory, which was their third straight on the road.
Desert Vista was able to grind out a solid victory over the Hawks in their previous meeting back in January, winning 73-66. The rematch might be a little tougher for Desert Vista since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
