Preview: McAllen Memorial Mustangs vs. McAllen Bulldogs
McAllen Memorial has enjoyed the comforts of home their last two games, but now they'll head out on the road. They will square off against the McAllen Bulldogs at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
McAllen Memorial posted their biggest victory since November 30, 2023 on Tuesday. They took their game at home with ease, bagging a 80-25 win over Pharr-San Juan-Alamo North. Given McAllen Memorial's advantage in MaxPreps' Texas basketball rankings (they are ranked 167th, while Pharr-San Juan-Alamo North is ranked 964th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Meanwhile, McAllen came tearing into Friday's matchup with three straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 26.7 points) and they left with even more momentum. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Pharr-San Juan-Alamo North 67-31 on the road.
McAllen can attribute much of their success to D'aundre Canada, who scored 13 points along with seven rebounds and five assists, and Mario Villegas, who scored 23 points along with five steals. Villegas has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last five times he's played. Another player making a difference was Dylan Benavidez, who scored ten points.
McAllen Memorial has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 14 of their last 15 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 18-4 record this season. As for McAllen, their victory was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 18-8.
McAllen Memorial didn't have too much breathing room in their contest against McAllen in their previous meeting back in December of 2023, but they still walked away with a 54-48 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for McAllen Memorial since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
