Basketball Game Preview: Richards Warriors vs. King Jaguars

The Richards Warriors and the King Jaguars will compete for holiday cheer at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday.

Richards is headed into the matchup out to prove that what happened against Brooks on Tuesday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. Richards was beaten by Brooks 71-44. While losing is never fun, the Warriors can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 444th, while the Eagles are ranked 219th).

Meanwhile, King entered their tilt with Catalyst-Maria on Tuesday with three consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with four. They blew past the Wolves 59-19. The Jaguars have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won four contests by 40 points or more this season.

King found their leader in sophomore Corey Wellere, who posted 20 points. The game was Wellere's third in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of William Carter, who had ten points.

King is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six matches, which provided a nice bump to their 5-3 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 65.7 points per game. As for Richards, their defeat was their first in the conference, dropping their conference record down to 2-1 and their overall record down to 4-4.

Richards came up short against King when the teams last played back in January, falling 67-63. Can Richards avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.