The Merced Bears will challenge the Atwater Falcons at 7:15 p.m. on Friday. Atwater took a loss in their last contest and will be looking to turn the tables on Merced, who comes in off a win.
On Wednesday, Merced strolled past Buhach Colony with points to spare, taking the game 60-43. Given the Bears' advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 294th, while the Thunder are ranked 744th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Atwater has been a dominant force so far, but they're in the middle of a mini-slump at the moment. They took a 58-49 hit to the loss column at the hands of El Capitan on Wednesday. The game was a 24-24 toss-up at halftime, but the Falcons couldn't quite close it out.
Merced's win was their fifth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 13-8. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 59.8 points per game. As for Atwater, their loss ended a five-game streak of away wins and brought them to 18-3.
Merced was able to grind out a solid victory over Atwater in their previous matchup back in February of 2024, winning 63-51. Will Merced repeat their success, or does Atwater have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
