Basketball Game Preview: Heritage Patriots vs. Orange Vista Coyotes

The Heritage Patriots will venture away from home to take on the Orange Vista Coyotes at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. The teams are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Heritage has struggled recently with 11 defeats in a row, while Orange Vista will arrive with nine straight victories.

Last Tuesday, Heritage ended up a good deal behind Moreno Valley and lost 66-51. While losing is never fun, the Patriots can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 1125th, while the Vikings are ranked 497th).

Meanwhile, in Tuesday's Canine Competition, Orange Vista prevailed. They secured a 56-51 W over JW North on Tuesday.

Orange Vista's win came from a few key players Heritage will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Anson Wright, who went 6 for 8 on his way to 15 points and five boards. He continues to improve, besting his previous point total in each of the last three games he's played. Another player making a difference was Adrian Viray, who posted 14 points.

Orange Vista pushed their record up to 15-6 with the win, which was their fourth straight on the road. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 71.3 points per game. As for Heritage, their loss dropped their record down to 4-17.

Heritage was taken down by Orange Vista 90-31 in their previous meeting last Wednesday. That game was all but decided by halftime, at which point Heritage was down 41-20.