Basketball Game Preview: Moreno Valley Vikings vs. Heritage Patriots

The Moreno Valley Vikings are taking a road trip to challenge the Heritage Patriots at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. Moreno Valley is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 51.9 points per game this season.

Moreno Valley is headed into Thursday's match hungry for a win as their strong season has now been derailed by two straight defeats. They fell 56-46 to Liberty on Tuesday.

Moreno Valley's loss came about despite a quality game from Jamall Thompson, who posted 14 points. Alijah Maloid was another key player, putting up nine points.

Meanwhile, Heritage was not able to break out of their rough patch on Tuesday as the team picked up their sixth straight defeat. They came up short against JW North, falling 68-43. While losing is never fun, the Patriots can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 1158th, while the Huskies are ranked 559th).

Moreno Valley will need focus on slowing down Aidyn Hendricks, one of several Heritage players who made an impact when they last played. He put up 14 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Victory Joice, who had ten points.

Heritage's loss dropped their record down to 4-12. As for Moreno Valley, their defeat ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 11-6.