Basketball Preview: Balboa Buccaneers vs. Washington Eagles
Balboa is 1-9 against the Eagles since January of 2019 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Monday. The Balboa Buccaneers will look to defend their home court against the Washington Eagles at 4:00 p.m. Hopefully Balboa focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 30 on Friday.
Last Friday, Balboa was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap as they fell 54-50 to the Lions. The defeat unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for Balboa in their matchups with the Lions: they've now lost five in a row.
Defeat or not, Balboa got some senior leadership from Je'Mon Brown and Sam San Juan. Brown almost dropped a double-double on 16 points and nine rebounds, while San Juan. scored six points along with three steals. San Juan hasn't dropped below two steals for three straight games. Another player making a difference was Alan Ly, who scored seven points along with six rebounds and six steals.
Meanwhile, Washington got the win against the Wolves on Friday by a conclusive 74-50. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Washington.
Washington's success was spearheaded by the efforts of Jaydon Chow, who scored 20 points along with four steals, and Korey Abantao, who went 6 for 7 from beyond the arc en route to 24 points and 5 assists. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Chow has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Johnson Chang, who scored seven points along with six rebounds and five assists.
Balboa has traveled a rocky road recently having lost ten of their last 13 games, which put a noticeable dent in their 6-15 record this season. As for Washington, they pushed their record up to 16-9 with that win, which was their third straight on the road.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Balboa have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 25.8 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Washington struggles in that department as they've been averaging 25.9 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Balboa might still be hurting after the 86-61 loss they got from the Eagles in their previous matchup two weeks ago. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Abantao, who scored 24 points along with three steals. Now that Balboa knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
