The Saginaw Rough Riders entered their tilt with the Rider Raiders with three consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with four. Saginaw came out on top against Rider by a score of 58-49 on Friday. Given Saginaw's advantage in MaxPreps' Texas basketball rankings (they are ranked 133rd, while Rider is ranked 649th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Saginaw can attribute much of their success to David Johnson, who scored 19 points along with six assists and four steals. That's the first time this season that Johnson scored 15 or more points. The team also got some help courtesy of Jaiden Gastile, who scored 12 points along with five rebounds.
Rider's loss came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Caiden Reed, who dropped a double-double on 17 points and 17 rebounds. Reed has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last three times he's played. Jared Cohee was another key contributor, scoring ten points.
Saginaw has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won ten of their last 11 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 21-5 record this season. As for Rider, they bumped their record down to 7-15 with that defeat, which was their fourth straight at home.
Saginaw will head out on the road to square off against Northwest at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. As for Rider, they will be playing in front of their home fans against Aledo at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Aledo and Rider are at an even 5-5 over their past ten head-to-heads.
