Preview: Otay Ranch Mustangs vs. Mater Dei Catholic Crusaders
The Otay Ranch Mustangs will head out on the road to challenge the Mater Dei Catholic Crusaders at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Otay Ranch will be strutting in after a win while Mater Dei Catholic will be coming in after a defeat.
Even though Bonita Vista scored an imposing 56 points on Friday, Otay Ranch still came out on top. Otay Ranch sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 59-56 victory over Bonita Vista. The win made it back-to-back wins for Otay Ranch.
Percy Whittaker was his usual excellent self, dropping a double-double on 21 points and 14 rebounds. He is on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed two or more in the last three games he's played. Adam Delacruz was another key contributor, scoring 16 points.
Meanwhile, after a string of three wins, Mater Dei Catholic's good fortune finally ran out on Wednesday. They took a 55-47 hit to the loss column at the hands of Montgomery. While losing is never fun, Mater Dei Catholic can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 189th, while Montgomery is ranked 22nd).
Otay Ranch is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four contests, which provided a massive bump to their 10-17 record this season. As for Mater Dei Catholic, their defeat dropped their record down to 15-12.
Otay Ranch didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Mater Dei Catholic in their previous meeting back in January, but they still walked away with a 52-46 victory. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Mater Dei Catholic's Maseyo Elliott, who scored 16 points along with two steals. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Otay Ranch still be able to contain Elliott? There's only one way to find out.
