After two games on the road, Van Buren is heading back home. They will take on the Norman Thomas Tigers at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. The two teams are out to turn their luck around after having lost tight contests in their previous games.
Van Buren suffered their closest defeat yet this season on Monday. They fell just short of Springfield Gardens by a score of 56-54. While losing is never fun, Van Buren can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' New York basketball rankings (they are ranked 559th, while Springfield Gardens is ranked 247th).
Meanwhile, Norman Thomas fought the good fight in their overtime contest against Rustin on Monday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell just short of the by a score of 63-61. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
Despite the loss, Norman Thomas got a solid performance out of Jaden Chazulle, who dropped a double-double on 26 points and 14 rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Chazulle has scored all season. Another player making a difference was Jason Guzman, who dropped a double-double on 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Even though they lost, Norman Thomas smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 19 offensive rebounds. That's the most offensive rebounds they've managed all season.
Van Buren bumped their record down to 3-6 with that loss, which was their fourth straight on the road dating back to last season. As for Norman Thomas, they have not been sharp recently, as they've lost five of their last six games, which put a noticeable dent in their 4-10 record this season.
