Preview: Riverside Prep Silver Knights vs. Big Bear Bears
Riverside Prep has enjoyed a two-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will take on the Big Bear Bears at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Riverside Prep scored the most points they've had all season to find success on Tuesday. They took down Cobalt Institute of Math & Science Academy 90-71. Riverside Prep pushed the score to 73-49 by the end of the third, a deficit the cut but never quite recovered from.
Riverside Prep's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Raoul Churchill led the charge by shooting 4-for-5 from deep and almost dropping a double-double on 34 points and nine assists. That makes it four consecutive games in which Churchill has scored at least a third of Riverside Prep's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Marrion Brown, who dropped a double-double on 20 points and 12 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Big Bear had already won ten in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 24.2 points), and they went ahead and made it 11 on Tuesday. They claimed a resounding 94-35 victory over University Prep at home. Big Bear has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 12 matchups by 28 points or more this season.
Big Bear got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Brennen Berge out in front who almost dropped a double-double on nine points and ten assists. Berge is on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed two or more in the last 12 games he's played. Levi Rufner was another key contributor, scoring 17 points along with four steals.
Riverside Prep's victory ended a three-game drought at home and bumped them up to 11-15. As for Big Bear, they are on a roll lately: they've won 13 of their last 14 games, which provided a nice bump to their 20-5 record this season.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as the two teams are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Riverside Prep hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 55.7 points per game. However, it's not like Big Bear struggles in that department as they've been averaging 65 points per game. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Riverside Prep took a serious blow against the Bears in their previous meeting back in January, falling 76-46. Can Riverside Prep avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
