The Memorial Red Devils will be home for the holidays to greet the Newton Falls Tigers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
On Tuesday, Memorial was fully in charge, breezing past Garfield 62-29 at home. With that victory, Memorial brought their scoring average up to 52.8 points per game.
Aziyah Flores was his usual excellent self, scoring 21 points along with nine rebounds and six steals. That's the first time this season that he pulled down eight or more rebounds. Josue Rodriguez was another key contributor, scoring 18 points along with five rebounds.
Meanwhile, Newton Falls strolled past Liberty with points to spare on Tuesday, taking the game 50-31. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Newton Falls.
Newton Falls' win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Carson Howard, who scored 12 points along with five assists and five steals. Howard is absolutely dominating the steal category: he's posted at least two every time he's taken the court this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Cameron Huff, who scored 17 points.
The win got Memorial back to even at 2-2. As for Newton Falls, they now have a winning record of 2-1.
This contest is one where the number of possessions is likely to be a big factor: Memorial have been smashing the glass this season, having only averaged 29.2 rebounds per game. It's a different story for Newton Falls, though, as they've been averaging only 29 rebounds per game. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Memorial skirted past Newton Falls 44-41 in their previous meeting back in February. Will Memorial repeat their success, or does Newton Falls have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
