Basketball Game Preview: Pioneer Diamondbacks vs. Vela Sabercats

Pioneer is 2-8 against Vela since January of 2016 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Pioneer Diamondbacks will be playing at home against the Vela Sabercats at 7:30 p.m. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.

Pioneer took a loss when they played away from home last Tuesday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Friday. They walked away with a 59-47 victory over Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Southwest.

Matthew Maldonado was a one-man wrecking crew for Pioneer as he went 6 for 15 en route to 16 points and eight steals. The dominant performance gave Maldonado a new career-high in steals. Muhamed Shaath was another key player, going 8 of 12 on his way to 18 points.

Meanwhile, Vela came tearing into Tuesday's matchup with 15 straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 17.5 points) and they left with even more momentum. They blew past the Javelinas 73-19. The Sabercats have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won 14 contests by 21 points or more this season.

Pioneer's win bumped their record up to 14-18. As for Vela, they are also on a roll lately: they've won 20 of their last 21 games, which provided a nice bump to their 32-4 record this season.

Things could have been worse for Pioneer, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 63-44 loss to Vela when the teams last played back in January. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Vela's Jordan Bustamante, who dropped a double-double on 26 points and ten rebounds. Now that Pioneer knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.