Basketball Game Preview: Tri-City Christian Eagles vs. Escondido Charter Tigers

Two dominant guards in Jeramiah Turner and Max Mowrey are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Tri-City Christian Eagles will take on the Escondido Charter Tigers at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday.

Tri-City Christian is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Thursday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Foothills Christian 69-36. The game was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point the Eagles had established a 29 point advantage.

Dre Cleaves

Points

02/20/25 vs Foothills Christian	22
02/18/25 vs San Diego Jewish Academy	12
02/13/25 @ Del Lago Academy	16
02/12/25 @ Rock Academy	13
02/11/25 @ St. Joseph Academy	12
+ 15 more games

Tri-City Christian can attribute much of their success to Dre Cleaves, who went 8-for-10 to rack up 22 points and five rebounds, and Turner, who went 5-for-10 on his way to 14 points along with six assists and five boards. That's the most points Cleaves has posted since back in December of 2024. Another player making a difference was Joel Valverde, who put up five points in addition to eight rebounds and five steals.

Meanwhile, Escondido Charter hadn't done well against Army-Navy recently (they were 0-4 in their previous four matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Thursday. Escondido Charter pulled ahead with a 54-53 photo finish over Army-Navy. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Tigers.

Escondido Charter's victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 15-15. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 60.7 points over those games. As for Tri-City Christian, they are on a roll lately: they've won 15 of their last 18 matches. That's provided a nice bump to their 18-9 record this season.

Tri-City Christian skirted past Escondido Charter 50-48 in their previous matchup back in January. The rematch might be a little tougher for Tri-City Christian since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.