Basketball Game Preview: Coachella Valley Mighty Arabs vs. Palo Verde Valley Yellow Jackets

The Coachella Valley Mighty Arabs will be taking part in a tournament against the Palo Verde Valley Yellow Jackets at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday. Coachella Valley is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 72.1 points per game this season.

Palo Verde Valley is facing Coachella Valley at the wrong time: Coachella Valley suffered their first home loss of the season on Friday and they're likely out for redemption. They fell just short of the Saints by a score of 68-66. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on Thursday (65), the Mighty Arabs still had to take the loss.

Defeat or not, Coachella Valley got some senior leadership from Israel Garcia and Franky Aguirre. Garcia posted 23 points, while Aguirre earned 15 points. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Garcia has scored all season. Another player making a difference was Mark Gonzalez, who had six points.

Meanwhile, after some red-hot attacks on offense in their last four matches, Palo Verde Valley finally came back down to earth on Thursday. They took a blow against Calipatria, falling 65-29. The game marked the Yellow Jackets' lowest-scoring contest so far this season.

Coachella Valley will need focus on slowing down Erico Ramirez, one of several Palo Verde Valley players who made an impact when they last played. He posted 12 points and five rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Yasias Green, who put up eight points and six rebounds.

Even though they lost, Palo Verde Valley smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with ten offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least ten offensive rebounds in three consecutive matches.

Coachella Valley's loss ended a four-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 7-2. As for Palo Verde Valley, their defeat dropped their record down to 3-7.

Coachella Valley strolled past Palo Verde Valley in their previous matchup two weeks ago by a score of 75-59. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Palo Verde Valley's Zaraivion Crowe, who dropped a double-double on 26 points and 11 rebounds. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Coachella Valley still be able to contain Crowe? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.