Basketball Game Preview: Pinnacle Panthers vs. Whitehorse Raiders

Pinnacle is 0-10 against Whitehorse since February of 2019 but things could change on Thursday. The Pinnacle Panthers are taking a road trip to face off against the Whitehorse Raiders at 5:30 p.m. That contest will pit two of the most dominant forwards against one another: Jostyn McLean and Keiarra Martin.

Pinnacle easily dispatched Non Varsity Opponent last Tuesday, but unfortunately both the margin and the ultimate result were a different story in this one. Pinnacle fell just short of Monticello by a score of 36-33 on Friday. While the Panthers didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Buckaroo 11-4 in the first quarter.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Whitehorse). They breezed by Rough Rock to the tune of 87-14 on Wednesday. Given the Raiders' advantage in MaxPreps' basketball rankings in their respective home states (they are ranked 53rd in Utah, while the Sun Devils are ranked 294th in Arizona), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Whitehorse has also been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 8-3 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 55.1 points per game. As for Pinnacle, they now have a losing record at 8-9.

Pinnacle was taken down by Whitehorse 70-28 when the teams last played back in January of 2024. That game was all but decided by halftime, at which point Pinnacle was down 33-10.