The Westminster Lions will head out on the road to challenge the Garden Grove Argonauts at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Westminster has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 354 points over their last five matchups.
Even though Westminster has not done well against Ocean View recently (they were 2-7 in their previous nine matchups), they didn't let the past get in their way on Tuesday. Westminster came out on top against Ocean View by a score of 72-64. Having run the score up that high, both teams probably have some extra defensive drills coming up.
Westminster relied on the efforts of MJ Gaza, who scored 18 points along with seven rebounds and five assists, and Eric Hoang, who scored 26 points. Hoang continues to roll, besting his previous point total in each of the last four games he's played. Another player making a difference was Matt Tran, who scored 14 points.
Meanwhile, Garden Grove's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Tuesday after their fifth straight loss. They took a 58-52 hit to the loss column at the hands of Godinez Fundamental. The loss unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for Garden Grove in their matchups with Godinez Fundamental: they've now lost three in a row.
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the most dominant came from Ethan Juarez, who scored 15 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Drue Anzai, who scored 14 points.
Westminster is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five games, which provided a massive bump to their 11-8 record this season. As for Garden Grove, they bumped their record down to 8-15 with that defeat, which was their fourth straight on the road.
Friday's game is shaping up to be a scrappy contest: Westminster have been smashing the glass this season, having only averaged 29.4 rebounds per game. It's a different story for Garden Grove, though, as they've been averaging only 27.6 rebounds per game. Given Westminster's sizeable advantage in that area, Garden Grove will need to find a way to close that gap.
Everything went Westminster's way against Garden Grove when the teams last played on January 3rd as Westminster made off with a 69-49 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Westminster since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
