Basketball Game Preview: Judge Memorial Catholic Bulldogs vs. American Heritage Patriots

Two dominant guards in JJ Apathjang and Mana Winitana are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Judge Memorial Catholic Bulldogs are taking a road trip to challenge the American Heritage Patriots at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both are strolling into their matches after big wins in their previous games.

Judge Memorial Catholic took a loss when they played away from home on Tuesday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Wednesday. They really took it to Providence Hall for the full four quarters, racking up a 71-42 victory. Given the Bulldogs' advantage in MaxPreps' Utah basketball rankings (they are ranked 42nd, while the Patriots are ranked 127th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Majak Deng had an outrageously good game as he posted 34 points. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in points. Another player making a difference was Longar Alor, who scored ten points.

Meanwhile, American Heritage had already won four in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 30.8 points) and they went ahead and made it five on Wednesday. They breezed by the Bears to the tune of 83-51. The Patriots have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won eight games by 26 points or more this season.

Judge Memorial Catholic has also been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five contests, which provided a massive bump to their 14-10 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 76.4 points per game. As for American Heritage, they pushed their record up to 13-9 with the win, which was their fourth straight at home.

Judge Memorial Catholic ended up a good deal behind American Heritage in their previous matchup back in January, losing 75-60. Can Judge Memorial Catholic avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.