Ponderosa was not able to break out of their rough patch on Thursday as the team picked up their fifth straight defeat. They fell 72-60 to the Rio Americano Raiders. While losing is never fun, the Bruins can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 778th, while the Raiders are ranked 164th).
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Rio Americano to victory, but perhaps none more so than Nathan Batta, who went 6 for 9 on his way to 16 points and eight steals. The dominant performance gave Batta a new career-high in steals. Adrian Devenecia was another key player, going 5 of 7 en route to 17 points.
Ponderosa's loss dropped their record down to 4-15. As for Rio Americano, they have been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six contests, which provided a nice bump to their 14-5 record this season.
Ponderosa didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next game, a 74-56 defeat against Burbank on the 18th. As for Rio Americano, they also wasted no time getting back out on the court and have already played their next matchup, a 61-53 loss against Lodi on the 18th.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
