Grants is 0-7 against Highland since April of 2021 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Grants Pirates will be playing in front of their home fans against the Highland Hornets at 7:00 p.m.
Last Tuesday, Grants ended up a good deal behind St. Pius X and lost 72-53. Grants has struggled against St. Pius X recently, as their contest on Tuesday was their fifth consecutive lost matchup.
Meanwhile, Highland entered their tilt with Belen with three consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with four. Highland took down Belen 71-54 on Tuesday. Given Highland's advantage in MaxPreps' New Mexico basketball rankings (they are ranked seventh, while Belen is ranked 71st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Highland can attribute much of their success to Sebastian Hernandez, who scored 22 points along with seven rebounds and two steals, and Jesus Licon, who scored 21 points along with six assists and two steals. Licon is crushing the point category: he's posted at least 15 every time he's taken the court this season. Another player making a difference was Raul Stanford, who scored nine points along with seven assists and six rebounds.
Grants' defeat dropped their record down to 15-9. As for Highland, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won eight of their last nine matches, which provided a nice bump to their 18-5 record this season.
Grants suffered a grim 82-58 defeat to Highland in their previous matchup back in January. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Licon, who shot 4-for-8 from downtown and almost dropped a double-double on 25 points and nine assists. Now that Grants 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
