Basketball Game Preview: Russian Mission Raiders vs. Scammon Bay Eagles

Russian Mission is on a four-game streak of home wins, while Scammon Bay is on a four-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. The Russian Mission Raiders will host the Scammon Bay Eagles at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

Two weeks ago, everything came up roses for Russian Mission against Ignatius Beans as the team secured a 75-38 victory. The Raiders have beaten the Strivers the last five times they've met, but they better watch out: this was the closest the Strivers has come to flipping the script.

Meanwhile, Scammon Bay was fully in charge on Wednesday, breezing past Ignatius Beans 78-39. Given the Eagles' advantage in MaxPreps' Alaska basketball rankings (they are ranked 38th in Alaska, while the Strivers are ranked 126th in Alaska), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Russian Mission better focus on containing ALBERT YUNAK and DALLAS KAGANAK as the pair were huge in Scammon Bay's win. YUNAK posted 17 points, while KAGANAK had 14 points. Another player making a difference was DANTE UTTEREYUK, who put up ten points.

Scammon Bay has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won eight of their last nine matches. That's provided a nice bump to their 14-6 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 68.8 points over those games. Russian Mission's win bumped their record up to 13-5.

Russian Mission took a serious blow against Scammon Bay when the teams last played back in January, falling 94-29. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of KAGANAK, who shot 4-for-6 from beyond the arc and almost dropped a double-double with 24 points and nine rebounds. Now that Russian Mission knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.