Preview: Richmond Red Devils vs. New Palestine Dragons
Richmond is on a eight-game streak of home wins (dating back to last season), while New Palestine is on a four-game streak of away wins (dating back to last season): one of those streaks is about to end. The Richmond Red Devils will take on the New Palestine Dragons at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Both teams come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
On Saturday, even if it wasn't a dominant performance, Richmond beat Madison 54-49. Given Richmond's advantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 16th, while Madison is ranked 288th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Richmond's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Braiden Hogg, who scored 21 points. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Hogg has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Cedric Horton, who scored 16 points.
New Palestine posted their closest victory yet this season on Friday. They had just enough and edged Pendleton Heights out 57-54.
Julius Gizzi continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, scoring 35 points along with eight rebounds. Gizzi is absolutely dominating the point category: he's posted at least 15 every time he's taken the court this season. Moses Haynes was another key contributor, scoring seven points along with five steals.
Richmond's victory bumped their record up to 16-0. As for New Palestine, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight games, which provided a nice bump to their 9-2 record this season.
Richmond suffered a grim 75-51 defeat to New Palestine in their previous matchup back in November of 2022. The matchup was all but decided by halftime, at which point Richmond was down 46-20.
