The McAllen Bulldogs will be playing in front of their home fans against the Pioneer Diamondbacks at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with McAllen sitting on five straight victories and Pioneer on four.
Last Tuesday, McAllen slipped by McAllen Memorial 47-46. The victory was all the more spectacular given McAllen's disadvantage in MaxPreps' Texas basketball rankings (they are ranked 350th, while McAllen Memorial is ranked 167th).
McAllen's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Jackson Ramirez, who scored 16 points. D'aundre Canada was another key contributor, scoring ten points along with six rebounds.
Meanwhile, Pioneer's game on Tuesday was all tied up 10-10 at the half, but luckily for them it didn't stay that way. They walked away with a 33-20 win over Pharr-San Juan-Alamo North. That's two games straight that Pioneer has won by exactly 13 points.
Pioneer's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Matthew Maldonado led the charge by scoring 11 points along with six rebounds and two steals. Maldonado has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last three times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Julian Valdez, who scored five points along with six rebounds and three steals.
McAllen has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won eight of their last nine contests, which provided a nice bump to their 19-8 record this season. As for Pioneer, they pushed their record up to 16-10 with that victory, which was their fourth straight at home.
Friday's game is shaping up to be a scrappy matchup: McAllen have been smashing the glass this season, having only averaged 22.7 rebounds per game. It's a different story for Pioneer, though, as they've been averaging only 27 rebounds per game. Given McAllen's sizeable advantage in that area, Pioneer will need to find a way to close that gap.
McAllen beat Pioneer 56-45 when the teams last played back in December of 2023. Will McAllen repeat their success, or does Pioneer have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
