Preview: Valley Vikings vs. Lovington Wildcats
Valley has enjoyed a three-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will face off against the Lovington Wildcats at 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the pair will really light up the scoreboard.
It can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but Valley had no problem doing just that on Saturday. They blew past the Bobcats 64-23 at home. Valley has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won ten matches by 25 points or more this season.
Tyler Kozlowski was his usual excellent self, scoring 18 points along with four steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Julian Chavez, who scored ten points along with six rebounds.
Meanwhile, Lovington earned a 70-61 win over Portales on Saturday. The win was just what Lovington needed coming off of a 71-30 defeat in their prior game.
Lovington's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Demarcus Thompson jr led the charge by dropping a double-double on 19 points and 12 rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Thompson jr has scored all season. Kayle Covington was another key contributor, dropping a double-double on 17 points and 13 rebounds.
Valley is on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight matches, which provided a nice bump to their 22-6 record this season. As for Lovington, their victory bumped their record up to 18-11.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as both teams are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Valley hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 61.9 points per game. However, it's not like Lovington struggles in that department as they've been averaging 62.9 points per game. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Valley beat Lovington 66-54 in their previous matchup back in December of 2016. Does Valley have another victory up their sleeve, or will Lovington turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
