The Needles Mustangs are on the road again on Thursday and plays the West Wendover Wolverines at 10:40 a.m. on February 22nd. The matchup should be an exciting one, as these teams are closely ranked in their respective states (Needles is ranked 23rd in California, while West Wendover is ranked 41st in Nevada).
Needles and Lake Mead Academy squared off in some playoff action on Saturday, but sadly Needles had to settle for second. They fell just short of the Eagles by a score of 63-60. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on Friday (55), Needles still had to take the loss.
Xavier Russell put forth a good effort for the losing side as he scored 28 points along with five rebounds and two steals. Darrell Russell was another key contributor, scoring eight points along with 11 assists.
Something new happened on Saturday as Luke Mills saw his first action of the season, playing 12 minutes against Lake Mead Academy. Mills made the most of the opportunity, scoring six points along with two steals. A few more games like that and he might be seeing even more time going forward.
Meanwhile, West Wendover had already won 19 in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 27.9 points), and they went ahead and made it 20 on Saturday. They snuck past Incline with a 38-34 victory. Despite the win, that was the fewest points West Wendover has scored all year.
West Wendover's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Estaban Correa led the charge by scoring ten points along with three steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Adryan Carlos, who scored five points along with nine rebounds and five steals.
Needles' defeat dropped their record down to 27-2. As for West Wendover, their victory bumped their record up to 23-4.
Thursday's match is shaping up to be a masterclass in shooting: Needles have been dynamite from deep this season, having made 44.9% of their threes per game. However, it's not like West Wendover struggles in that department as they've made 46.4% of their threes this season. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out. Check back here after the action for a full breakdown and analysis of the contest.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
