Basketball Recap: Marcus Ward's Big Game Can't Quite Lead Mesquite over Deer Valley

Mesquite lost against Deer Valley back in February and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Wednesday. The Mesquite Wildcats took a 72-63 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Deer Valley Skyhawks. While losing is never fun, the Wildcats can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Arizona basketball rankings (they are ranked 57th, while the Skyhawks are ranked sixth).

Mesquite lost despite a true team effort on offense, the best among them being Marcus Ward, who posted 18 points and eight rebounds. The dominant performance gave Ward a new career-high in rebounds. Crew Jorde was another key player, putting up 14 points.

Mesquite has been struggling recently as they've lost four of their last five contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 4-4 record this season. That patch can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 63.6 points per game. As for Deer Valley, the win was the third in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 8-1.

Mesquite wasted no time getting back out on the court and has already played their next matchup, a 62-40 victory against Mohave on the 12th. As for Deer Valley, they also didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next game, a 69-40 win against Thunderbird on the 12th.