Basketball Game Preview: Desert Hills Thunder vs. Pine View Panthers

Two dominant guards in Ben Chase and Jelani Odjegba are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Desert Hills Thunder will look to defend their home court on Wednesday against the Pine View Panthers at 7:00 p.m. Desert Hills is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 53.9 points per game this season.

Desert Hills will bounce into Wednesday's game after beating Snow Canyon, who they had gone 2-7 against in their nine prior meetings. Desert Hills came out on top against Snow Canyon by a score of 42-35 on Friday.

Freeman Springer was the offensive standout of the matchup as he went 5 for 6 on his way to 13 points and eight rebounds. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in boards. Another player making a difference was Chase, who posted 14 points and five rebounds.

Pine View has been a dominant force so far, but they're in the middle of a mini-slump at the moment. They lost to Hurricane at home by a 67-51 margin on Friday.

Pine View's defeat ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 11-6. As for Desert Hills, their win bumped their record up to 10-7.

Desert Hills was able to grind out a solid victory over Pine View when the teams last played back in January of 2024, winning 55-45. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was Pine View's Nash Schroeder, who had 19 points and five steals. Now that he won't be playing on Wednesday, will it be easier for Desert Hills to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.