Basketball Preview: El Dorado Wildcats vs. Winfield Vikings
El Dorado is on a 17-game streak of home losses (dating back to last season), the Vikings an 11-game streak of away losses (dating back to last season), but someone's luck is about to change. The El Dorado Wildcats will take on the Winfield Vikings at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. One thing working in El Dorado's favor is that they have posted big point totals in their last three games.
El Dorado pushed their score all the way to 56 on Friday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They fell 65-56 to Buhler. El Dorado has not had much luck with the Crusaders recently, as the team's come up short the last two times they've met.
Despite the loss, El Dorado got a solid performance out of Logan Garner, who scored 27 points. That was a full 48.2% of El Dorado's points, marking the third time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Sam Greene was another key contributor, scoring nine points along with six rebounds.
Even though Winfield has not done well against the Crusaders recently (they were 0-9 in their previous nine matchups), they didn't let the past get in their way on Monday. Winfield narrowly escaped with a victory as the squad sidled past the Crusaders 44-41.
Christian Moree was his usual excellent self, scoring 21 points along with four blocks. That makes it four consecutive games in which he has scored at least a third of Winfield's points. Another player making a difference was Kellen Gibson, who scored five points along with five rebounds.
El Dorado's loss dropped their record down to 1-13. As for Winfield, their win bumped their record up to 2-11.
Tuesday's game will pit two of the most dominant guards against one another: Garner and Moree. Garner has been dynamite this season: he has averaged 20.5 points, 1.2 steals, and 2.4 assists. For his part, Moree has averaged 17.8 points, 2.8 blocks, and 6.5 rebounds.
El Dorado was dealt a bruising 81-46 defeat at the hands of the Vikings in their previous matchup back in February of 2023. Thankfully for El Dorado, Kale Madrigal (who dropped a double-double on 24 points and 11 rebounds) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
