Basketball Recap: West Valley Takes Loss Despite Strong Efforts from Malakhi Adams and Malachi Black

West Valley lost against Murrieta Mesa back in December of 2016 and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Monday. The West Valley Mustangs lost to the Murrieta Mesa Rams on the road by a 68-52 margin. The Mustangs have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.

West Valley's defeat shouldn't obscure the performances of Malachi Black, who dropped a double-double on 21 points and ten boards, and Malakhi Adams, who went 6 of 11 on his way to 13 points and five rebounds. Those 13 points gave Adams a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Tieshon Spivey, who posted six points and ten rebounds.

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Murrieta Mesa to victory, but perhaps none more so than Jaden Merritt, who dropped a double-double on ten points and ten rebounds. Merritt has been hot recently, having also posted two or more blocks the last three times he's played. Dayne Lumsden was another key player, going 7 of 10 on his way to 16 points.

West Valley's loss dropped their record down to 8-8. As for Murrieta Mesa, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 7-11.

West Valley wasted no time getting back out on the court and has already played their next matchup, a 62-47 defeat against Temescal Canyon on the 8th. As for Murrieta Mesa, they also didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next contest, a 56-54 loss against Chaparral on the 8th.