Basketball Game Preview: Rio Mesa Spartans vs. Viewpoint Patriots

The Rio Mesa Spartans and the Viewpoint Patriots will compete for holiday cheer at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both will really light up the scoreboard.

While Rio Mesa didn't have the best season last year (they finished 9-17), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past. They walked away with a 70-61 win over Dos Pueblos on Tuesday. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Spartans.

Meanwhile, Viewpoint was just a bucket shy of victory on Friday and fell 67-66 to Grant. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on Wednesday (61), the Patriots still had to take the loss.

Rio Mesa's victory was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 7-4. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 77.0 points per game. As for Viewpoint, their defeat dropped their record down to 9-3.

Rio Mesa couldn't quite finish off Viewpoint in their previous matchup back in December of 2023 and fell 49-47. Can Rio Mesa avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.