Basketball Recap: Hilmar Comes Up Short

Hilmar lost against Ripon back in January, and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Friday. The Hilmar Yellowjackets fell 58-50 to the Ripon Indians. While losing is never fun, the Yellowjackets can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 971st, while the Indians are ranked 460th).

When it comes to explaining why Hilmar lost, don't look at Xavier Silveira. Despite the final result, he went 7-for-17 on his way to 18 points along with six boards and three steals. Another player making a difference was Juelle Lindo, who posted nine points.

It was another big night for Marcus Madoski, who dropped a double-double with 32 points and 13 rebounds for Ripon. Madoski has become a key player for Ripon: the team is 14-5 when he posts at least eight boards, but 3-6 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of Logan Lefebvre, who earned 11 points and six rebounds.

Hilmar has been struggling recently as they've lost six of their last seven matchups, which has put a noticeable dent in their 8-19 record this season. That patch can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 50.1 points over those games. As for Ripon, they have been performing well recently as they've won 11 of their last 14 games, which provided a nice bump to their 17-11 record this season.

Hilmar does not have any more games scheduled as of now. As for Ripon, they will face off against Union Mine at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Union Mine knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with 55 points or more in their past 17 contests -- so hopefully Ripon likes a good challenge.