Marana is 1-8 against Cholla since January of 2015 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The Marana Tigers will head out to face off against the Cholla Chargers at 7:00 p.m.
Last Tuesday, Marana lost to Tucson High Magnet School at home by a 53-37 margin. The matchup marked the Tigers' lowest-scoring contest so far this season.
Meanwhile, Cholla came tearing into Tuesday's game with eight straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 42.4 points) and they left with even more momentum. They blew past the Bulldogs 75-51. The Chargers have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won nine matchups by 21 points or more this season.
Marana better focus on containing Michael Payne and Cyree Jenkins as the pair were huge in Cholla's win. Payne almost dropped a double-double with 21 points and nine assists, while Jenkins went 7-for-10 on his way to 17 points along with five rebounds and three steals. Payne is also on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed two or more in the last 12 games he's played. Joel Servin was another key player, putting up nine points and six boards.
Cholla was working as a unit and finished the game with 22 assists. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their assist total in three consecutive contests.
Cholla pushed their record up to 18-3 with the win, which was their fourth straight on the road. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 81.3 points over those games. As for Marana, their defeat dropped their record down to 14-9.
Marana ended up a good deal behind Cholla in their previous matchup back in December of 2023, losing 87-73. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Cholla's Jerry Mendoza, who went 9-for-13 en route to 27 points in addition to seven assists and six steals. Now that Marana knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
