Basketball Game Preview: Puyallup Vikings vs. Spanaway Lake Sentinels

The Puyallup Vikings will challenge the Spanaway Lake Sentinels at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Puyallup has four straight victories, Spanaway Lake has five straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the court.

Last Thursday, Puyallup didn't have too much trouble with Bonney Lake as they won 62-43. Given the Vikings' advantage in MaxPreps' Washington basketball rankings (they are ranked 20th, while the Panthers are ranked 219th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, Spanaway Lake was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap on Thursday as they fell 65-61 to Sumner. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on Tuesday (59), the Sentinels still had to take the loss.

Puyallup will have to contain Darius Alexander as he made an impact in Spanaway Lake's last game. He posted 28 points. That's the most points Alexander has posted since back in January of 2024. Another player making a difference was Demond Louis, who earned eight points along with six boards and three steals.

Puyallup's win was their fifth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 11-2. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 69.0 points per game. As for Spanaway Lake, their defeat dropped their record down to 4-7.

Puyallup came up short against Spanaway Lake in their previous meeting back in January of 2016, falling 67-62. Can Puyallup avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.