Preview: El Dorado Golden Hawks vs. Esperanza Aztecs
The El Dorado Golden Hawks will head out on the road to face off against the Esperanza Aztecs at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Last Tuesday, El Dorado was able to grind out a solid win over El Modena, taking the game 61-50. That's two games straight that El Dorado has won by exactly 11 points.
El Dorado's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Noah Barker led the charge by scoring 17 points along with eight rebounds. Another player making a difference was Andrew Salvador, who scored ten points along with three blocks and two steals.
Meanwhile, Esperanza earned a 60-47 victory over Brea Olinda on Tuesday. The win made it back-to-back wins for Esperanza.
Esperanza found their leader in underclassman Alex Van otterloo, who dropped a double-double on 28 points and 11 rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Van otterloo has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Stephan Esparza, who scored 17 points along with two steals.
El Dorado's victory bumped their record up to 14-9. As for Esperanza, their win bumped their record up to 9-14.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as the two teams are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. El Dorado hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having only averaged 57.2 points per game. It's a different story for Esperanza, though, as they've been averaging only 57.1 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.
El Dorado came up short against Esperanza in their previous meeting back in January of 2023, falling 64-53. Can El Dorado avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
