Basketball Game Preview: Sacred Heart Tigers vs. Victory Baptist Academy Patriots

The Sacred Heart Tigers are taking a road trip to square off against the Victory Baptist Academy Patriots at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both will really light up the scoreboard.

Sacred Heart took a loss when they played away from home on Monday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Tuesday. They came out on top against Nazarene Christian Academy by a score of 57-45.

Sacred Heart's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Jayden Villarreal led the charge by going 9 of 19 on his way to 23 points in addition to six rebounds and four steals. Villarreal has been hot for a while, having posted three or more steals the last 11 times he's played. Clayton Bezner was another key player, putting up 14 points along with eight boards and four steals.

Meanwhile, Victory Baptist Academy had already won two in a row and they went ahead and made it three on Thursday. They strolled past the Saints with points to spare, taking the game 59-42.

Sacred Heart's victory was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 8-11. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 50.5 points per game. As for Victory Baptist Academy, they have been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five games, which provided a massive bump to their 11-8 record this season.

Sacred Heart didn't have too much breathing room in their match against Victory Baptist Academy in their previous meeting on January 11th, but they still walked away with a 46-42 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for Sacred Heart since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.