Two dominant guards in Gabriel Short and Michael Mcculley are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. Having just played yesterday, the River Valley Dust Devils will head out on the road to face off against the Kingman Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m. on February 8th. Kingman took a loss in their last contest and will be looking to turn the tables on River Valley, who comes in off a win.
Even though Tonopah Valley scored an imposing 60 points on Wednesday, River Valley still came out on top. River Valley enjoyed a cozy 77-60 win over Tonopah Valley. The victory was just what River Valley needed coming off of a 82-21 defeat in their prior matchup.
River Valley got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Nash Hanrahan out in front who went 8 for 11 from beyond the arc en route to 28 points and 7 assists. Hanrahan has been hot recently, having posted 25 or more points the last three times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Short, who dropped a double-double on 16 points and 13 rebounds.
Meanwhile, it's never fun to lose, and it's even less fun to lose 65-32, which was the final score in Kingman's tilt against Parker on Monday. Kingman has now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Despite the loss, Kingman had strong showings from Codey Padilla, who scored seven points, and Logan Drummond, who scored eight points along with five rebounds.
River Valley's victory ended a three-game drought at home and bumped them up to 5-15. As for Kingman, their loss dropped their record down to 11-11.
Thursday's contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: River Valley have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 30.7 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Kingman struggles in that department as they've been averaging 32.2 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
River Valley couldn't quite finish off Kingman when the teams last played back in January and fell 53-51. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Mcculley, who scored 24 points along with five steals. Now that River Valley knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
