The Irvine Vaqueros and the San Bernardino Cardinals will round out the year against one another at 12:00 p.m. on Wednesday at. Hopefully Irvine is not getting complacent, as they presents a significant challenge as they come into the match much higher ranked than San Bernardino in California (Irvine is ranked 449th, while San Bernardino is ranked 1125th).
Last Friday, Irvine was just a bucket shy of victory and fell 45-44 to Whitney. Irvine has now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Jaesang An, who scored 15 points along with six rebounds. He scored a full 34.1% of Irvine's points, the third time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Taewon Kim was another key contributor, scoring 13 points along with five rebounds.
Meanwhile, San Bernardino's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Thursday after their third straight loss. They took a serious blow against Western Christian, falling 78-33. San Bernardino was in a tough position after the first half, with the score already sitting at 39-16.
Despite the loss, San Bernardino had strong showings from George McEwen, who scored 16 points along with four steals, and Mason Vilhauer, who scored four points along with nine rebounds. The matchup was McEwen's eighth in a row with at least ten points.
Irvine has traveled a rocky road recently, as they've lost four of their last five matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 7-7 record this season. As for San Bernardino, their loss was their third straight on the road, which bumped their record down to 3-11.
Keep an eye on the arc in Wednesday's contest: Irvine have been dynamite from deep this season, having only drained 34.6% of their threes per game. It's a different story for San Bernardino, though, as they've only drained 32% of their threes per game this season. Given Irvine's sizeable advantage in that area, San Bernardino will need to find a way to close that gap. Come back here after the game to get analysis of the match and other basketball content.
