Having just played yesterday, the Bellflower Buccaneers will head out on the road to face off against the Walnut Mustangs at 10:00 a.m. on January 13th. Both teams come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Even though Gahr scored an imposing 56 points on Friday, Bellflower still came out on top. Bellflower slipped by Gahr 57-56.
Meanwhile, Walnut came tearing into Thursday's contest with nine straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 24.9 points) and they left with even more momentum. They took down South Hills 61-42. Given Walnut's advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 228th, while South Hills is ranked 817th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Walnut's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Cory Fluker, who scored 18 points along with seven rebounds and two blocks. That's the first time this season that Fluker posted two or more blocks. Another player making a difference was Nathan Yen, who scored 15 points along with five steals.
Bellflower is on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine games, which provided a nice bump to their 12-7 record this season. As for Walnut, they pushed their record up to 15-5 with that win, which was their fifth straight on the road.
Bellflower was dealt a bruising 73-31 loss at the hands of Walnut when the teams last played back in December of 2021. Thankfully for Bellflower, Malik Khouzam (who scored 31 points along with five rebounds and four steals) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
