Basketball Game Preview: St. Mary's Knights vs. Sunnyslope Vikings

St. Mary hasn't had much luck against Sunnyslope recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The St. Mary's Knights are taking a road trip to square off against the Sunnyslope Vikings at 7:00 p.m. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.

St. Mary's is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Wednesday. They secured a 56-50 W over West Point. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Knights.

Meanwhile, Sunnyslope waltzed into their matchup on Wednesday with five straight wins... but they left with six. They breezed past the Coyotes to the tune of 66-38. Given the Vikings' advantage in MaxPreps' Arizona basketball rankings (they are ranked fifth, while the Coyotes are ranked 60th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Sunnyslope's win came from a few key players St. Mary's will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Rider Portela, who went 6-for-7 en route to 17 points along with seven boards and three blocks. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in shooting accuracy (86%). Another player making a difference was Kade Snyder, who made all 7 shots he took for 14 points and six rebounds.

Sunnyslope's victory was their sixth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 18-8. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 73.7 points over those games. As for St. Mary's, their record now sits at 14-11.

St. Mary's came up short against Sunnyslope in their previous meeting back in December of 2024, falling 56-44. Can St. Mary's avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.