The Mission Valley Vikings and the Veritas Christian Eagles will face off at 8:00 p.m. on January 26th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. Mission Valley has been getting the ball to fall more lately as they've increased their point totals each of their last three games.
Mission Valley fought the good fight in their overtime match against Central Heights on Saturday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They took a 66-60 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Vikings. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their last game on Friday (59), Mission Valley still had to take the loss.
Porter Deters put forth a good effort for the losing side as he scored 32 points along with eight rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points he has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Hunter Tenbrink, who scored 13 points along with five rebounds.
Veritas Christian suffered their closest loss yet this season on Saturday. They fell just short of Wichita Defenders HomeSchool by a score of 42-40.
Despite the defeat, Veritas Christian got a solid performance out of Gavin Oberzan, who scored 18 points along with nine rebounds and five steals. Another player making a difference was Josh Nadvornik, who scored four points along with six rebounds and two steals.
Mission Valley's defeat dropped their record down to 2-7. As for Veritas Christian, their defeat was their fourth straight at home, which dropped their record down to 4-9.
Friday's match is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Mission Valley have been smashing the glass this season, having averaged 30.4 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Veritas Christian struggles in that department as they've been averaging 22.7 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Mission Valley barely slipped by Veritas Christian in their previous meeting back in January of 2023, winning 43-42. The rematch might be a little tougher for Mission Valley since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
