Basketball Game Preview: McNair Eagles vs. River Islands Riptide

After both having extra time off, the McNair Eagles and the River Islands Riptide will dust off their jerseys to square off against one another at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. McNair is coming into the matchup on a five-game losing streak.

Two weeks ago, McNair took a blow against Tracy, falling 82-48. While losing is never fun, the Eagles can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 1014th, while the Bulldogs are ranked 218th).

Meanwhile, River Islands fought the good fight in their overtime game against Escalon last Friday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They took a 77-72 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Cougars. The Riptide have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.

McNair will have to keep a close watch on Idrees ElFarra and Charles Mapanao, a pair of players who had a big impact on River Islands' prior game. ElFarra went 9 of 17 on his way to 33 points along with five assists and five boards, while Mapanao went 7 of 17 en route to 22 points and three steals.

River Islands now has a losing record at 5-6. As for McNair, their loss dropped their record down to 2-7.