Basketball Game Preview: Ridgeway Roadrunners vs. Melrose Golden Wildcats

The Ridgeway Roadrunners will venture away from home to square off against the Melrose Golden Wildcats at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Ridgeway has four straight wins, Melrose has eight straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the court.

Last Tuesday, Ridgeway escaped with a win against Kirby by the margin of a single free throw, 76-75.

Marjavis Chandler

Points (Career)

02/04/25 vs Kirby	27
01/31/25 vs Hamilton	24
12/03/24 @ Arlington	19
12/14/24 vs St. Benedict at Auburndale	19
01/24/25 @ Power Center Academy	19

It was another big night for Marjavis Chandler, who went 10 of 20 en route to 27 points along with eight boards and four steals. Those 27 points gave him a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Kayin Mitchell, who posted 16 points.

Ridgeway smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive rebounds. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 8.4 offensive boards per game earlier this season, but in their last 15 matchups they've averaged 10.1.

Meanwhile, Melrose came up short against Power Center Academy on Tuesday and fell 63-51.

Ridgeway pushed their record up to 11-9 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 69.3 points per game. As for Melrose, their loss dropped their record down to 2-14.

Everything went Ridgeway's way against Melrose in their previous meeting back in January, as Ridgeway made off with a 57-34 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for Ridgeway since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.