Basketball Game Preview: Arlington Eagles vs. Archbishop Murphy Wildcats

The Arlington Eagles will face off against the Archbishop Murphy Wildcats at 7:15 p.m. on Monday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both will really light up the scoreboard.

Last Friday, Arlington came up short against Kamiak and fell 76-68. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on Wednesday (65), the Eagles still had to take the loss.

Meanwhile, Archbishop Murphy came tearing into Friday's match with nine straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 34.4 points) and they left with even more momentum. They breezed by the Royals to the tune of 77-20. Given the Wildcats' advantage in MaxPreps' Washington basketball rankings (they are ranked 14th, while the Royals are ranked 281st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Arlington has also been struggling recently as they've lost three of their last four contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 5-11 record this season. That patch can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 55.0 points per game. As for Archbishop Murphy, they pushed their record up to 15-1 with the victory, which was their seventh straight on the road dating back to last season.

Arlington was able to grind out a solid win over Archbishop Murphy when the teams last played back in January of 2024, winning 74-61. Does Arlington have another victory up their sleeve, or will Archbishop Murphy turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.