Preview: Gonzaga Eagles vs. DeMatha Stags
The Gonzaga Eagles and the DeMatha Stags will face off at 6:15 p.m. on February 25th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Gonzaga will be looking to keep their 17-game home win streak (dating back to last season) alive.
It can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but Gonzaga had no problem doing just that on Saturday. They strolled past the Cardinals with points to spare, taking the game 70-53. The score was all tied up 32-32 at the break, but Gonzaga was the better team in the second half.
Meanwhile, DeMatha is ranked highly in their home state, and on Saturday they took on another highly ranked team in the form of St. John's. DeMatha came out on top in a nail-biter against St. John's and snuck past 67-64. The win was familiar territory for DeMatha who now have four in a row.
DeMatha's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Malcolm Thomas, who scored 17 points along with seven rebounds and four blocks. Thomas has been hot recently, having posted 17 or more points the last three times he's played. Ashton (ace) Meeks was another key contributor, scoring 11 points along with three steals.
Gonzaga has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 11 of their last 12 games, which provided a nice bump to their 26-4 record this season. As for DeMatha, their victory bumped their record up to 20-11.
Gonzaga was able to grind out a solid win over DeMatha in their previous matchup back in January, winning 69-60. Will Gonzaga repeat their success, or does DeMatha have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
