Basketball Game Preview: Citrus Hill Hawks vs. Big Bear Bears

Two dominant forwards in Jerren White and Aiden Brewer are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The Citrus Hill Hawks will be playing at home against the Big Bear Bears at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

Citrus Hill is headed into the contest after thoroughly thrashing Tahquitz: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Citrus Hill blew Tahquitz out of the water with an 87-50 final score. The game was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point the Hawks had established a 24 point advantage.

Citrus Hill got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was White out in front who dropped a triple-double on 12 points, 16 rebounds, and ten assists. White has been hot for a while, having also posted two or more steals the last 12 times he's played. Kannon Steward was another key player, going 7 for 11 on his way to 17 points and six assists.

Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Big Bear, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Saturday. They were the clear victor by a 76-54 margin over Silver Valley on Tuesday.

Big Bear has been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 7-3 record this season. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 29.5 points. As for Citrus Hill, the victory made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 4-5.

Citrus Hill came up short against Big Bear in their previous meeting back in December of 2023, falling 76-72. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Big Bear's Ryder Dolan, who dropped a double-double on 21 points and 14 boards. Now that Citrus Hill knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.