Basketball Game Preview: Red Bluff Spartans vs. Foothill Cougars

Red Bluff hasn't had much luck against Foothill recently, but that could start to change on Thursday. The Red Bluff Spartans will look to defend their home court against the Foothill Cougars at 7:30 p.m. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.

Red Bluff will bounce into Thursday's match after beating Chico, who they had gone 0-9 against in their nine prior meetings. Red Bluff came out on top against Chico by a score of 64-52 on Tuesday. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Spartans.

Bryce Owens and Cooper Sides were among the main playmakers for Red Bluff as the former almost dropped a double-double on 20 points and nine rebounds and the latter went 6 of 9 en route to 14 points and eight boards. The dominant performance also gave Owens a new career-high in steals (three). Another player making a difference was Kayden Leaf, who posted 15 points.

Meanwhile, Foothill entered their tilt with Shasta on Tuesday with three consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with four. They came out on top in a nail-biter against the Wolves, sneaking past 75-72. Given the Cougars' advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 228th, while the Wolves are ranked 534th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Foothill's win came from a few key players Red Bluff will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Zane Miceli, who went 7 for 15 on his way to 17 points and six rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Wyatt Forward, who went 6 of 8 en route to 16 points and six boards.

Foothill is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven games, which provided a nice bump to their 12-5 record this season. As for Red Bluff, their victory bumped their record up to 10-6.

Things could have been worse for Red Bluff, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 59-42 loss to Foothill in their previous matchup back in February of 2024. Thankfully for Red Bluff, Tyler Zanhiser (who almost dropped a double-double on 13 points and nine steals) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.