The Pitman Pride will challenge the McLane Highlanders at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both teams are coming into the matchup red-hot, with Pitman sitting on six straight wins and McLane on five.
Last Monday, Pitman beat Cosumnes Oaks 62-51. Given the Pride's advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 132nd, while the Wolfpack are ranked 787th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Meanwhile, McLane was fully in charge on Monday, breezing past Sanger West 62-33. The Highlanders have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won six contests by 24 points or more this season.
McLane's win came from a few key players Pitman will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Demetrius Simon, who dropped a double-double on 17 points and 11 rebounds. He is also on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed two or more in the last five games he's played. Another player making a difference was Keyvon Burcher, who went 8 of 18 en route to 18 points along with five boards and three steals.
McLane smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive rebounds in 14 consecutive games.
McLane is on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last 11 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 10-5 record this season. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 62.5 points per game. As for Pitman, they pushed their record up to 12-1 with the victory, which was their tenth straight at home dating back to last season.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps