Preview: Paradise Honors Panthers vs. Shadow Mountain Matadors
Paradise Honors is 4-0 against Shadow Mountain since January of 2021, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The Paradise Honors Panthers will look to defend their home court against the Shadow Mountain Matadors at 7:00 p.m. Hopefully Paradise Honors is not getting complacent, as they presents a significant challenge as they come into the match much higher ranked than Shadow Mountain in Arizona (Paradise Honors is ranked 89th, while Shadow Mountain is ranked 263rd).
Paradise Honors can now show off seven landslide victories after their most recent game on Tuesday. They breezed by Yuma at home to the tune of 63-32. With Paradise Honors ahead 38-18 at the half, the match was all but over already.
Paradise Honors relied on the efforts of Christian Dubrey, who scored 16 points along with six rebounds, and Tj Harris, who scored 18 points along with five assists and three steals. Harris has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last 19 times he's played. Antwan Gilkey was another key contributor, scoring eight points along with six rebounds.
Meanwhile, Shadow Mountain's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Tuesday after their third straight loss. They fell 54-47 to Thunderbird. Shadow Mountain has not had much luck with Thunderbird recently, as the team's come up short the last seven times they've met.
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the most dominant came from Pierce Rogers, who scored 14 points along with eight rebounds. He hasn't dropped below eight rebounds for three straight games. Another player making a difference was Cory Lamb-Jones, who scored 14 points.
Paradise Honors has been performing well recently as they've won nine of their last 12 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 13-9 record this season. As for Shadow Mountain, their defeat dropped their record down to 2-16.
Everything came up roses for Paradise Honors against Shadow Mountain when the teams last played back in December of 2023 as the team secured a 74-45 win. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Rogers, who scored 20 points along with eight rebounds and three blocks. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Paradise Honors still be able to contain him? There's only one way to find out.
