Basketball Preview: Cliffside Park Raiders vs. Ridgefield Park Scarlets
Cliffside Park has enjoyed a two-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will take on the Ridgefield Park Scarlets at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Given that the two teams suffered a loss in their last game, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this match.
Cliffside Park fought the good fight in their overtime contest against the Bridgemen on Thursday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They were just a bucket shy of victory and fell 58-57 to the Bridgemen. Having run the score up that high, both teams probably have some extra defensive drills coming up.
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the best came from Jerelz Ortiz, who scored 16 points along with six rebounds and two steals. Jamil Gonzalez was another key contributor, scoring 11 points along with five rebounds and three steals.
Meanwhile, things could have been worse for Ridgefield Park, but they could have been a whole lot better as they took a 51-37 loss to the Huskies on Thursday. While losing is never fun, Ridgefield Park can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' New Jersey basketball rankings (they are ranked 228th, while the Huskies are ranked 86th).
Cliffside Park's record now sits at 11-9. Ridgefield Park's record is now 9-12.
Cliffside Park didn't have too much breathing room in their contest against the Scarlets when the teams last played back in January, but they still walked away with a 46-41 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Cliffside Park since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
