The McAllen Bulldogs will head out on the road to face off against the Pioneer Diamondbacks at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The squads are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: McAllen has struggled recently with seven losses in a row, while Pioneer will arrive with four straight victories.
Last Tuesday, McAllen was within striking distance but couldn't close the gap as they fell 54-48 to McAllen Memorial. The loss unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for McAllen in their matchups with McAllen Memorial: they've now lost three in a row.
Meanwhile, winning is just a little bit easier when you work as a team to post nine more assists than your opponent, a fact Pioneer proved on Tuesday. Everything went their way against Pharr-San Juan-Alamo North as Pioneer made off with a 53-30 win.
Pioneer can attribute much of their success to Edward Chavez, who dropped a double-double on 16 points and 13 rebounds. That's the first time this season that Chavez pulled down eight or more rebounds. Another player making a difference was Dustin Duty, who scored nine points along with eight rebounds.
McAllen has traveled a rocky road recently, as they've lost eight of their last ten matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 8-8 record this season. As for Pioneer, they have been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six matches, which provided a massive bump to their 10-7 record this season.
McAllen came up short against Pioneer in their previous matchup back in January, falling 51-40. Can McAllen avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
