Basketball Game Preview: Chaparral Pumas vs. Vista Murrieta Broncos

The Chaparral Pumas will challenge the Vista Murrieta Broncos at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.

Chaparral is headed into Wednesday's contest looking for a big change in momentum after dropping their third straight game on Friday. They lost to Murrieta Valley on the road by a 78-64 margin. While losing is never fun, the Pumas can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 413th, while the Nighthawks are ranked 174th).

Meanwhile, you can't lose the game if you win every quarter, and that was precisely Vista Murrieta's strategy against Murrieta Mesa on Friday. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Vista Murrieta blew Murrieta Mesa out of the water with a 78-35 final score. The Broncos have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won ten matchups by 23 points or more this season.

Vista Murrieta's win bumped their record up to 16-5. As for Chaparral, their loss dropped their record down to 11-10.

Things could have been worse for Chaparral, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 74-60 loss to Vista Murrieta in their previous meeting back in February of 2024. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Vista Murrieta's Cisco Munoz, who went 9 of 13 en route to 29 points in addition to six assists and six rebounds. Now that Chaparral knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.