Basketball Game Preview: Eldorado Golden Eagles vs. Sandia Matadors

Eldorado hasn't had much luck against Sandia recently, but that could start to change on Thursday. The Eldorado Golden Eagles will welcome the Sandia Matadors at 7:00 p.m. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both will really light up the scoreboard.

Last Tuesday, Eldorado was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap as they fell 68-63 to Santa Fe. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on Thursday (55), the Golden Eagles still had to take the loss.

Meanwhile, Sandia took their matchup on Tuesday with ease, bagging a 70-34 victory over Manzano. The Matadors have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won eight games by 20 points or more this season.

Sandia's win came from a few key players Eldorado will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Zaire Ndyabagye, who went 6 of 13 on his way to 16 points and five steals. That's the most steals he has posted since back in February of 2024. The team also got some help courtesy of Isaiah Brown, who went 6 for 12 en route to 17 points and four steals.

Sandia was working as a unit and finished the game with 25 assists. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now racked up at least 20 assists in five consecutive contests.

Sandia has been performing well recently as they've won 11 of their last 13 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 16-3 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 77.3 points per game. As for Eldorado, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 8-11.

Eldorado beat Sandia 69-60 in their previous meeting back in February of 2024. Will Eldorado repeat their success, or does Sandia have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.