The Elk Grove Thundering Herd will head out on the road to challenge the Franklin Wildcats at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Elk Grove has been dominant on offense recently, having racked up an incredible 202 points over their last three matchups.
Elk Grove is headed into the game having just suffered their closest loss since December 7, 2023 on Monday. They fell just short of Ygnacio Valley by a score of 62-59.
Despite the defeat, Elk Grove got top-tier performance from Noah Hargrave, who went 8 for 14 on his way to 20 points and six assists. Jason Raga was another key player, going 5 of 7 en route to 13 points.
Meanwhile, Franklin was able to grind out a solid win over West on Saturday, taking the game 67-55. Given the Wildcats' advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 52nd, while the Wolfpack are ranked 210th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Elk Grove better focus on containing Aiden Rollins and Benjamin Sandy as the pair were huge in Franklin's win. Rollins dropped a double-double on 23 points and 11 boards, while Sandy went 7 for 12 on his way to 19 points and six rebounds. Those 11 rebounds gave Rollins a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Brandon Wasserman, who posted six points and five boards.
Franklin has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven contests, which provided a nice bump to their 16-3 record this season. As for Elk Grove, their loss dropped their record down to 14-5.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Elk Grove has been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 33.8 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Franklin struggles in that department as they've been averaging 28.7 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Elk Grove ended up a good deal behind Franklin when the teams last played back in February of 2024, losing 65-47. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Rollins, who went 6 of 9 en route to 13 points along with eight assists and six rebounds. Now that Elk Grove knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
