Preview: Monarch Coyotes vs. Regis Jesuit Raiders
Monarch is 0-4 against Regis Jesuit since February of 2020 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Saturday. The Monarch Coyotes will head out on the road to face off against the Regis Jesuit Raiders at 4:00 p.m. Monarch has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 217 points over their last three matches.
Even though Horizon scored an imposing 64 points on Thursday, Monarch still came out on top. Monarch skirted past Horizon 66-64. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest victory Monarch has posted yet this season.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Monarch to victory, but perhaps none more so than Tyler Carlson, who scored 17 points along with eight rebounds and three steals. That's the first time this season that Carlson pulled down eight or more rebounds. Another player making a difference was Graham Johnson, who scored 16 points along with nine rebounds and three steals.
Meanwhile, Regis Jesuit faced Mountain Vista in a battle between two of the state's top teams. Regis Jesuit fell 64-57 to Mountain Vista on Tuesday. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Damarius Taylor, who scored 16 points along with two steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Eric Fiedler, who scored 19 points along with seven rebounds and three steals.
Monarch has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 10-4 record this season. As for Regis Jesuit, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 10-6.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as the two teams are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Monarch hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 62.3 points per game. However, it's not like Regis Jesuit struggles in that department as they've been averaging 66.4 points per game. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Monarch took a serious blow against Regis Jesuit in their previous matchup back in December of 2022, falling 91-64. Thankfully for Monarch, Joe Dorais (who went 8 for 10 from beyond the arc en route to 32 points and 0 assists) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
