St. Vincent de Paul hasn't had much luck against Ukiah recently, but that could start to change on Thursday. The St. Vincent de Paul Mustangs will be playing in front of their home fans against the Ukiah Wildcats at 7:30 p.m. Ukiah took a loss in their last matchup and will be looking to turn the tables on St. Vincent de Paul, who comes in off a win.
On Tuesday, St. Vincent de Paul strolled past Healdsburg with points to spare, taking the game 53-37. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Mustangs.
Meanwhile, Ukiah was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap on Tuesday as they fell 66-61 to Piner. While losing is never fun, the Wildcats can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 790th, while the Prospectors are ranked 367th).
St. Vincent de Paul will need focus on slowing down Jacob Lunceford, one of several Ukiah players who made an impact when they last played. He went 7 for 10 on his way to 18 points and eight boards. Lunceford's evening made it four games in a row in which he has scored at least ten points. Adrian Gonzalez was another key player, almost dropping a double-double on nine points and 11 rebounds.
Even though they lost, Ukiah was working as a unit and finished the game with 14 assists. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 4.5 assists per game earlier this season, but in their last 15 games they've averaged 8.9.
Ukiah dropped their record down to 6-17 with the defeat, which was their third straight at home. Those losses can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 56.3 points per game. As for St. Vincent de Paul, their victory bumped their record up to 13-8.
St. Vincent de Paul couldn't quite finish off Ukiah when the teams last played two weeks ago and fell 53-51. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Ukiah's Zach Martinez, who dropped a double-double on 25 points and 12 boards. Now that St. Vincent de Paul knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
