Basketball Game Preview: Mission Viejo Diablos vs. Capistrano Valley Cougars

Mission Viejo is 2-8 against Capistrano Valley since January of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Wednesday. The Mission Viejo Diablos will take on the Capistrano Valley Cougars at 7:00 p.m. Mission Viejo is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 54.4 points per game this season.

Mission Viejo took a loss when they played away from home on Monday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Friday. They strolled past University with points to spare, taking the game 54-39. The Diablos pushed the score to 40-18 by the end of the third, a deficit the Trojans cut but never quite recovered from.

Mission Viejo relied on the efforts of JD Hill, who posted 16 points, and Damian Navarro, who earned 17 points. Those 16 points gave Hill a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Gage Vargas, who put up seven points.

Meanwhile, Capistrano Valley entered their tilt with St. Margaret's on Friday with four consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with five. Everything went their way against the Tartans as they made off with a 61-36 victory. The Cougars have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won ten matches by 20 points or more this season.

Capistrano Valley has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 11 of their last 12 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 15-3 record this season. As for Mission Viejo, their win bumped their record up to 8-11.

Mission Viejo came up short against Capistrano Valley when the teams last played back in November of 2022, falling 59-52. Can Mission Viejo avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.