Basketball Game Preview: Antelope Titans vs. Destiny Christian Academy Lions

Two dominant guards in Malichai Brown and Jaylen Valdez are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Antelope Titans will head out on the road to take on the Destiny Christian Academy Lions at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Antelope knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with 55 points or more in their past four matches -- so hopefully Destiny Christian Academy likes a good challenge.

Antelope easily dispatched Cordova on Monday, but unfortunately both the margin and the ultimate result were a different story in this one. Antelope fell just short of Grant by a score of 58-55 on Wednesday. The defeat continues a trend for the Titans in their matchups with the Pacers: they've now lost five in a row.

Despite the loss, Antelope saw an underclassman step up: sophomore Ezrah Kaheaku went 8 for 16 on his way to 21 points and five boards. The dominant performance gave Kaheaku a new career-high in points. Brown was another key player, putting up eight points along with eight assists and seven rebounds.

Even though they lost, Antelope smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 13 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive rebounds in seven consecutive contests.

Meanwhile, Destiny Christian Academy made easy work of Cordova on Wednesday and carried off a 74-52 win. Given the Lions' advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 123rd, while the Lancers are ranked 998th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Destiny Christian Academy has also been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five games, which provided a nice bump to their 9-9 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 64.6 points per game. As for Antelope, their defeat ended a five-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 15-5.