Basketball Preview: Nixon Mustangs vs. Mission Veterans Memorial Patriots
Nixon is 8-0 against the Patriots since February of 2015, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Friday. The Nixon Mustangs will head out on the road to challenge the Mission Veterans Memorial Patriots at 7:00 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Nixon has ten straight wins, the Patriots have eight straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Last Tuesday, Nixon took their matchup at home with ease, bagging a 82-43 victory over the Toros. Given Nixon's advantage in MaxPreps' Texas basketball rankings (they are ranked 271st, while the Toros are ranked 1100th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
It was another big night for Jose Escobar, who scored 25 points along with five steals. He hasn't dropped below five steals for three straight games. The team also got some help courtesy of Mason Vela, who scored 14 points along with two steals.
Meanwhile, Mission Veterans Memorial was the victim of a rough 67-44 defeat at the hands of the Rattlers on Tuesday. Mission Veterans Memorial has not had much luck with the Rattlers recently, as the team's come up short the last six times they've met.
Nixon has been performing well recently as they've won 11 of their last 14 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 21-9 record this season. As for Mission Veterans Memorial, they dropped their record down to 5-18 with that defeat, which was their fifth straight on the road.
Everything came up roses for Nixon against the Patriots in their previous matchup back in January as the team secured a 91-43 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for Nixon since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
