Preview: Liberty Charter Lions vs. El Capitan Vaqueros
The Liberty Charter Lions have the luxury of staying home another game and will welcome the El Capitan Vaqueros at 7:00 p.m. on December 4th. Liberty Charter will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps California Rankings (they are ranked 612th, while El Capitan is ranked 275th).
Last Thursday, Liberty Charter was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap as they fell 57-51 to Southern California Yeshiva. That's two games in a row now that Liberty Charter has lost by exactly six points.
Despite their defeat, Liberty Charter saw several players rise to the challenge and make noteworthy plays. Joel Bray, who scored 15 points along with 5 assists and 5 rebounds, was perhaps the best of all. Another player making a difference was John Rose, who scored 8 points along with 12 rebounds and 7 blocks.
El Capitan has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won three contests by 29 points or more this season. They breezed by Preuss UCSD at home to the tune of 74-31. The match was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 40-20.
El Capitan's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Jack Andersen led the charge by scoring 19 points along with 7 rebounds. Kayden McMahon was another key contributor, scoring 21 points along with 7 rebounds.
Bayfront Charter's victory bumped their season record to 0-0 while Liberty Charter's loss dropped theirs to 1-2.
Keep an eye on the arc in Monday's game: Liberty Charter have made nailing deep shots look easy this year this season, having only averaged 5.2 threes per game. However, it's not like El Capitan struggles in that department as they've been averaging only 5.2 per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out. Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other basketball content.
Liberty Charter took a serious blow against El Capitan when the teams last played back in November of 2022, falling 85-40. Thankfully for Liberty Charter, Micah Odell (who scored 27 points along with 8 rebounds and 6 steals) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
