Basketball Preview: Merit Preparatory Academy Knights vs. Milford Tigers
Merit Preparatory Academy hasn't had much luck against Milford recently, but that could start to change on Saturday. The Merit Preparatory Academy Knights will take on the Milford Tigers at 2:00 p.m. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Merit Preparatory Academy will bounce into Saturday's game after beating Pinnacle, who they had gone 1-8 against in their nine prior meetings. Merit Preparatory Academy really took it to Pinnacle for the full four quarters, racking up an 85-53 win. The matchup was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point the Knights had established a 28 point advantage.
Merit Preparatory Academy's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Michigan Draper, who went 6 for 10 en route to 15 points plus five steals. Draper has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last four times he's played. Another player making a difference was Cruz Steinman, who went 8 for 17 en route to 17 points plus five rebounds and four steals.
Meanwhile, Milford took care of business in their home opener on Friday. They enjoyed a cozy 56-37 win over Tintic.
Sadler Barnes had an outrageously good game as he went 7 for 15 en route to 21 points plus eight assists and eight steals. What's more, he also posted a 50% three-point shooting accuracy, which is the highest he's posted since back in January. Kilo Tsosie was another key player, going 7 for 13 en route to 16 points plus six rebounds.
Merit Preparatory Academy took a serious blow against Milford in their previous meeting back in January, falling 89-52. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Barnes, who shot 10-for-17 from beyond the arc and almost dropped a triple-double on 50 points, nine assists, and 11 steals. Now that Merit Preparatory Academy knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
