Basketball Game Preview: Fairfield Falcons vs. Armijo Royals

The Fairfield Falcons will square off against the Armijo Royals at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Fairfield has six straight wins, Armijo has seven straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the court.

Last Wednesday, Fairfield was able to grind out a solid victory over Foothill, taking the game 60-52. Given the Falcons' advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 180th, while the Mustangs are ranked 471st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Johnnie Jones was his usual excellent self, dropping a double-double on 26 points and ten boards. His evening made it six games in a row in which he has scored at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Jose Saucedo, who posted 15 points.

Fairfield was working as a unit and finished the game with 12 assists. They are 3-1 when they've passed the ball that well.

Meanwhile, Armijo played a tough matchup on Wednesday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They were dealt a 71-27 loss at the hands of Burbank. The contest marked the Royals' lowest-scoring game so far this season.

Fairfield will have to contain Isreal Legree as he made an impact in Armijo's last game. He earned 13 points. That was a full 48.1% of Armijo's points, marking the seventh time in a row he's put up more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Jariah Johnson, who had six points.

Armijo's defeat dropped their record down to 1-10. As for Fairfield, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won ten of their last 11 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 11-4 record this season.

Fairfield beat Armijo 43-30 in their previous matchup back in February of 2024. Will Fairfield repeat their success, or does Armijo have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.