Preview: Rider Raiders vs. Aledo Bearcats
The Rider Raiders will head out on the road to take on the Aledo Bearcats at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Rider is no doubt hoping to put an end to a three-game streak of away losses.
On Tuesday, Rider suffered a tough 70-48 defeat at the hands of Saginaw. While losing is never fun, Rider can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Texas basketball rankings (they are ranked 665th, while Saginaw is ranked 184th).
Rider's loss came about despite a quality game from Caiden Reed, who scored 22 points. Reed hasn't dropped below 18 points for four straight games. The team also got some help courtesy of Gavin Aday, who scored 11 points.
Meanwhile, even though Azle scored an imposing 59 points on Friday, Aledo still came out on top. Aledo walked away with a 71-59 victory over Azle.
Rider has been struggling recently as they've lost six of their last seven contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 8-20 record this season. As for Aledo, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 16-11 record this season.
Rider came up short against Aledo when the teams last played back in January, falling 56-51. Can Rider avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
