The Oakmont Vikings will head out on the road to square off against the Bear River Bruins at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Oakmont will be strutting in after a victory while Bear River will be coming in after a defeat.
Last Tuesday, Oakmont strolled past Center with points to spare, taking the game 69-54. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Vikings.
| 01/14/25 vs Center | 17 |
| 12/19/24 vs Whitney | 15 |
| 11/20/23 vs Lathrop | 15 |
| 01/04/25 @ Del Campo | 9 |
| 12/10/24 @ Bella Vista | 6 |
Aldin Bubic and Jayden Rodrigues were among the main playmakers for Oakmont as the former dropped a double-double on 20 points and 13 rebounds and the latter went 7 for 15 en route to 17 points and four steals. Those 17 points gave Rodrigues a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Daiveon Parker, who posted ten points.
Oakmont smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 12 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 11 offensive rebounds in three consecutive matches.
Meanwhile, Bear River was not able to break out of their rough patch on Wednesday as the team picked up their fourth straight loss. They took a hard 66-50 fall against Lincoln. While losing is never fun, the Bruins can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 748th, while the Fighting Zebras are ranked 345th).
Oakmont will have to contain Dylan Donley as he made an impact in Bear River's last game. He went 10 of 25 on his way to 25 points. That was a full 50% of Bear River's points, marking the third time in a row he's scored more than a third of the team's points. Luke Jeffers was another key player, putting up two points in addition to 11 boards and six assists.
Oakmont is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five contests, which provided a nice bump to their 8-10 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 62.0 points per game. As for Bear River, their defeat dropped their record down to 9-9.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Oakmont has been crashing the rebounds this season, having averaged 30.7 boards per game. However, it's not like Bear River struggles in that department as they've been averaging 28.9 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Oakmont came up short against Bear River when the teams last played back in December of 2023, falling 67-62. Can Oakmont avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
