Basketball Game Preview: Cardinal Hayes Cardinals vs. Archbishop Stepinac Crusaders

The Cardinal Hayes Cardinals will face off against the Archbishop Stepinac Crusaders at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.

On Tuesday, Cardinal Hayes was fully in charge, breezing past Mt. St. Michael Academy 80-45. Given the Cardinals' advantage in MaxPreps' New York basketball rankings (they are ranked 40th, while the Mountaineers are ranked 417th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, Archbishop Stepinac came tearing into Tuesday's matchup with eight straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 11.3 points) and they left with even more momentum. They enjoyed a cozy 75-59 victory over the Eagles.

Cardinal Hayes is also on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five contests, which provided a nice bump to their 11-4-1 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 68.4 points per game. As for Archbishop Stepinac, their win was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 14-3.

Cardinal Hayes came up short against Archbishop Stepinac in their previous matchup back in December of 2024, falling 69-56. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Archbishop Stepinac's Adonis Ratliff, who dropped a triple-double on 16 points, 11 rebounds, and ten blocks. Now that Cardinal Hayes knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.