Basketball Game Preview: Churchill Lancers vs. Bend Lava Bears

The Churchill Lancers will wrap up 2024 with a road trip to face off against the Bend Lava Bears at 2:30 p.m. on Monday. Churchill is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 53 points per game this season.

Churchill came up into this matchup off a tough 28-point defeat on Saturday. This time they kept things ultra-competitive, but unfortunately the final result was the same. They fell just short of Wilsonville by a score of 53-50 on Monday. The loss continues a trend for the Lancers in their matchups with the Wildcats: they've now lost nine in a row.

Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the best came from Trayshawn Wright, who went 7 of 12 on his way to 18 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Jace Litten, who went 6 for 10 on his way to 15 points and five rebounds.

Meanwhile, Bend beat Willamette 67-54 on Saturday. Given the Lava Bears' advantage in MaxPreps' Oregon basketball rankings (they are ranked 68th, while the Wolverines are ranked 228th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Bend has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four contests, which provided a nice bump to their 4-3 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 61.0 points per game. As for Churchill, they now have a losing record at 3-4.

Everything came up roses for Churchill against Bend when the teams last played back in April of 2018, as the squad secured an 83-39 win. Does Churchill have another victory up their sleeve, or will Bend turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.