Eldorado hasn't had much luck against Sandia recently, but that could start to change on Wednesday. The Eldorado Golden Eagles will venture away from home to face off against the Sandia Matadors at 7:00 p.m. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Last Friday, Eldorado was just a bucket shy of victory and fell 65-64 to Santa Fe. While losing is never fun, the Golden Eagles can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' New Mexico basketball rankings (they are ranked 41st, while the Demons are ranked eighth).
Meanwhile, Sandia had already won five in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 25.6 points) and they went ahead and made it six on Friday. They blew past the Monarchs 83-35. The Matadors have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 12 games by 20 points or more this season.
Sandia's win came from a few key players Eldorado will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Isaiah Brown, who posted 11 points in addition to six rebounds and five assists. He is also on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed two or more in each of the last ten games he's played. Lavodrick Hogues was another key player, going 5-for-6 on his way to 16 points and five boards.
Sandia smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 15 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least ten offensive rebounds in three consecutive matchups.
Sandia pushed their record up to 21-3 with the win, which was their tenth straight at home. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 79.8 points over those games. As for Eldorado, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 10-14.
Eldorado took a serious blow against Sandia in their previous meeting back in January, falling 94-66. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Sandia's Zaire Ndyabagye, who almost dropped a double-double with 24 points and nine rebounds. Now that Eldorado knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
