The Tulare Western Mustangs will venture away from home to challenge the Central Grizzlies at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday. Tulare Western is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 68.4 points per game this season.
Last Tuesday, Tulare Western came up short against Tulare Union and fell 83-73. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game last Thursday (59), the Mustangs still had to take the loss.
Malachi Ficher
| 12/28/24 vs Del Oro | 52 |
| 01/09/25 @ Mission Oak | 46 |
| 12/07/24 vs Frontier | 46 |
| 12/18/24 vs Corcoran | 41 |
| 01/14/25 @ Dinuba | 38 |
| + 23 more games |
Despite the loss, Tulare Western got top-tier performance from Malachi Ficher, who went 12-for-22 en route to 34 points and six rebounds. Ficher is becoming a predictor of Tulare Western's success: when he posts at least 20 points the team is 17-6 (and 1-4 when he doesn't). Kaine Garcia was another key player, putting up 12 points.
Even though they lost, Tulare Western smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive rebounds in eight consecutive matches.
Meanwhile, Central posted their closest victory since December 28, 2023 on Tuesday. They narrowly escaped with a win as the team sidled past Clovis 64-62. Given the Grizzlies' advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 165th, while the Cougars are ranked 444th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Central's victory bumped their record up to 17-12. As for Tulare Western, their defeat was their third straight on the road, which dropped their record down to 18-10.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
