Basketball Recap: Dariel Bahamontes' Big Game Can't Quite Lead Redlands East Valley over West Valley

After flying high against Redlands on Thursday, Redlands East Valley came back down to earth. The Redlands East Valley Wildcats took a 69-63 hit to the loss column at the hands of the West Valley Mustangs. The Wildcats were given a dose of their own medicine in this game as the Mustangs apparently hadn't forgotten their defeat the last time these teams played back in December of 2022.

Redlands East Valley lost on Friday despite a true team effort on offense, the best among them being Dariel Bahamontes, who dropped a double-double on 16 points and 17 boards. Bahamontes' evening made it five games in a row in which he has scored at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Demaj Moore, who posted 16 points in addition to eight boards and three blocks.

Even though they lost, Redlands East Valley was working as a unit and finished the game with 15 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as West Valley only racked up seven assists.

It was another big night for Malachi Black, who went 10 of 21 on his way to 27 points along with seven steals and six boards for West Valley. Black has been hot for a while, having posted two or more steals the last 14 times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Ahmad McClellan, who put up 13 points and five boards.

With the loss, Redlands East Valley broke their three-game winning streak and moved their record to 8-6. As for West Valley, they are on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four matches, which provided a nice bump to their 7-5 record this season.

Redlands East Valley and Alta Loma will round out the year against one another at at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. Alta Loma will roll in looking for their fourth straight victory, something Redlands East Valley surely won't give up without a fight. As for West Valley, they will look to defend their home court on Thursday against Grand Terrace at 1:30 p.m. West Valley is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 60.7 points per game this season.