The Sparks Railroaders will be staying on the road on Wednesday to face off against the Wooster Colts at 7:30 p.m. on January 24th. Hopefully Sparks focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 17 on Friday.
Sparks struggled with assists on Friday (South Tahoe had 14 more) and sadly the final score reflected it. Sparks took a hard 62-44 fall against South Tahoe. The loss unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for Sparks in their matchups with South Tahoe: they've now lost four in a row.
Despite the defeat, Sparks got a solid performance out of Adrian Banuelos Puga, who scored 21 points along with five rebounds and three steals. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Banuelos Puga has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Jaoquin Tagulao, who scored 14 points along with three steals.
Meanwhile, Wooster waltzed into their match on Friday with two straight wins but they left with three. They enjoyed a cozy 65-49 victory over North Valleys.
Jared Marquicias was his usual excellent self, scoring 30 points along with seven steals and five assists. He is on a roll when it comes to points, as he's now scored 15 or more in the last four games he's played. Another player making a difference was Jamal Gaitor, who dropped a double-double on 12 points and ten rebounds.
Sparks has not been sharp recently, as they've lost 11 of their last 12 matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 3-15 record this season. As for Wooster, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five games, which provided a nice bump to their 10-8 record this season.
Keep an eye on the arc in Wednesday's matchup: Sparks have made nailing deep shots look easy this year this season, having only averaged 4.3 threes per game. It's a different story for Wooster, though, as they've been averaging only 6.1 threes per game. Given Sparks' sizeable advantage in that area, Wooster will need to find a way to close that gap.
Sparks didn't have too much breathing room in their match against Wooster when the teams last played back in January of 2023, but they still walked away with a 46-42 victory. Does Sparks have another victory up their sleeve, or will Wooster turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
