Basketball Game Preview: Wheatland Pirates vs. Bear River Bruins

Wheatland hasn't had much luck against Bear River recently, but that could start to change on Wednesday. The Wheatland Pirates are taking a road trip to square off against the Bear River Bruins at 7:30 p.m. Having both just faced considerable losses, both teams are looking to turn things around.

Wheatland is headed into Wednesday's match looking for a big change in momentum after dropping their 13th straight game on Friday. They had to suffer through a 56-29 loss at the hands of Lincoln. While losing is never fun, the Pirates can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 1166th, while the Fighting Zebras are ranked 311th).

Meanwhile, Bear River managed to keep up with Oakmont until halftime on Friday, but things quickly went downhill from there. Bear River lost 61-41 to Oakmont. While the Bruins didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Vikings 14-9 in the first quarter.

Wheatland will have to keep a close watch on Dylan Donley and Luke Jeffers, a pair of players who had a big impact on Bear River's prior game. Donley made all 6 shots he took for 14 points, while Jeffers posted seven points in addition to 15 boards and five assists. Jeffers has been hot, having posted eight or more rebounds the last five times he's played. Lucas Reed also deserves some recognition as he grabbed his first steal of the season.

Bear River's loss dropped their record down to 13-13. As for Wheatland, their defeat dropped their record down to 6-19.

Wheatland might still be hurting after the 74-48 loss they got from Bear River when the teams last played back in January. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Donley, who went 18 of 30 to rack up 48 points. Now that Wheatland knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.