Basketball Game Preview: Mission Oak Hawks vs. Tulare Western Mustangs

Mission Oak is 1-9 against Tulare Western since January of 2020 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The Mission Oak Hawks will host the Tulare Western Mustangs at 7:15 p.m. Mission Oak knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with 55 points or more in their past three matchups -- so hopefully Tulare Western likes a good challenge.

Having struggled with five losses in a row, Mission Oak turned things around against Strathmore on Thursday. They strolled past the Spartans with points to spare, taking the game 67-53.

It was another big night for Malakai Rodriguez, who went 6 of 9 from beyond the arc on his way to 30 points and six steals. He has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last four times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Antonio Sanchez, who posted 15 points.

Mission Oak smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 12 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least nine offensive rebounds in 14 consecutive contests.

Meanwhile, Tulare Western escaped with a win on Monday against Central Valley Christian by the margin of a single free throw, 51-50. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Mustangs.

Tulare Western is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four games, which provided a nice bump to their 11-7 record this season. As for Mission Oak, their victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 8-8.

Mission Oak came up short against Tulare Western in their previous matchup back in January of 2024, falling 65-55. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Tulare Western's Malachi Ficher, who almost dropped a double-double on 28 points and nine rebounds. Now that Mission Oak knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.