Basketball Game Preview: Arlington Lions vs. San Clemente Tritons

The Arlington Lions and the San Clemente Tritons will round out the year against one another at at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday. Arlington will be strutting in after a win while San Clemente will be coming in after a loss.

Having struggled with three defeats in a row, Arlington turned things around against Hillcrest on Thursday. They walked away with a 54-42 victory over the Trojans. The win was all the more spectacular given the Lions' disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 444th, while the Trojans are ranked 197th).

Meanwhile, after a string of four wins, San Clemente's good fortune finally ran out on Saturday. The contest between them and Los Alamitos didn't end well, with San Clemente falling 63-48. The matchup marked the Tritons' lowest-scoring game so far this season.

Arlington will need focus on slowing down Porter Hansen, one of several San Clemente players who made an impact when they last played. He went 6 of 15 on his way to 16 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Christian Fernandez, who posted nine points and three steals.

Even though they lost, San Clemente smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with ten offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in six consecutive contests.

The victory got Arlington back to even at 6-6. As for San Clemente, their loss dropped their record down to 11-4.