Basketball Game Preview: Walden Grove Red Wolves vs. Ironwood Ridge Nighthawks

The Walden Grove Red Wolves will face off against the Ironwood Ridge Nighthawks 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.

Walden Grove is headed into the matchup having just posted their biggest win since December 28, 2024 on Tuesday. They blew past Rio Rico 71-46. Given the Red Wolves' advantage in MaxPreps' Arizona basketball rankings (they are ranked 149th, while the Hawks are ranked 309th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Walden Grove to victory, but perhaps none more so than Mitchel Collins, who went 8 of 15 en route to 21 points and six rebounds. The game was Collins' third in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Malachi Kuti George, who made all 7 shots he took to post 16 points and six rebounds.

Walden Grove was working as a unit and finished the game with 20 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.

Meanwhile, Ironwood Ridge narrowly escaped with a victory as the team sidled past Canyon del Oro 63-61. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Nighthawks.

Ironwood Ridge is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four contests, which provided a nice bump to their 8-7 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 58.3 points per game. As for Walden Grove, they pushed their record up to 13-7 with the win, which was their third straight on the road.