Altoona hasn't had much luck against Cumberland Valley recently, but that could start to change on Thursday. The Altoona Mountain Lions will challenge the Cumberland Valley Eagles at 6:30 p.m. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Last Friday, Altoona was able to grind out a solid victory over Middletown, taking the game 58-49. The win was all the more spectacular given the Mountain Lions' disadvantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania basketball rankings (they are ranked 430th, while the Blue Raiders are ranked 115th).
Meanwhile, Cumberland Valley came tearing into Saturday's game with five straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 22 points) and they left with even more momentum. Couldn't have asked for a better way to wrap up 2024 than the 82-47 stomp they got against the Whippets. The matchup was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 49-14.
Cumberland Valley's win came from a few key players Altoona will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Jared Dolimpio, who went 8 for 15 on his way to 21 points and three steals. Those 21 points gave him a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Aiden Diehl, who went 5 of 8 on his way to 15 points.
Cumberland Valley's victory was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 8-2. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 80.3 points per game. As for Altoona, their win ended a seven-game drought on the road dating back to last season and puts them at 2-6.
Altoona was taken down by Cumberland Valley 68-24 in their previous matchup back in January. Can Altoona avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
