Preview: River Valley Dust Devils vs. Odyssey Institute Minotaur
The River Valley Dust Devils will head out on the road to take on the Odyssey Institute Minotaur at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams have had a bumpy ride up to this point with six consecutive losses for River Valley and 13 for the Minotaur.
River Valley pushed their score all the way to 64 on Tuesday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They fell 74-64 to Parker. River Valley has struggled against the Broncs recently, as their contest on Tuesday was their fifth consecutive lost matchup.
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Gabriel Short, who dropped a double-double on 19 points and ten rebounds. Another player making a difference was Nash Hanrahan, who went 6 for 11 from beyond the arc en route to 27 points and 2 assists.
Even though they lost, River Valley smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 12 offensive rebounds. This was only their tenth loss (out of 13 games) when they hit their own glass that hard.
Meanwhile, it's never fun to lose, and it's even less fun to lose 64-32, which was the final score in Odyssey Institute's tilt against the Guardians on Tuesday.
River Valley dropped their record down to 3-14 with that defeat, which was their seventh straight on the road dating back to last season. Those losses can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 58.1 points per game. Odyssey Institute's record is now 3-16.
Everything came up roses for River Valley against the Minotaur in their previous matchup back in January as the squad secured a 63-31 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for River Valley since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
