Even though the Citrus Valley Blackhawks scored an imposing 65 points on Wednesday, the Redlands East Valley Wildcats still came out on top. Redlands East Valley strolled past Citrus Valley with points to spare, taking the game 83-65. Given Redlands East Valley's advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 246th, while Citrus Valley is ranked 749th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Jeremiah Ivens continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, dropping a double-double on 30 points and 16 rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points he has scored all season. Darrell Green was another key contributor, scoring 18 points.
Citrus Valley lost despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Marcos Ortiz, who scored 21 points along with seven rebounds. It was the first time this season that Ortiz scored 15 or more points. Another player making a difference was Jayden Evans, who scored 13 points along with five rebounds and two blocks.
Redlands East Valley has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won ten of their last 11 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 18-8 record this season. As for Citrus Valley, they have not been sharp recently as the team's lost six of their last seven matchups, which put a noticeable dent in their 9-15 record this season.
Redlands East Valley will look to defend their home court on Friday against Redlands at 6:45 p.m. Redlands East Valley is coming into the matchup with five straight wins at home, so Redlands is out to stop a squad with plenty of momentum. As for Citrus Valley, they will head out on the road to face off against Yucaipa at 6:45 p.m. on Friday. Hopefully Citrus Valley focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 17 on Wednesday.
