Mid Valley is 9-1 against Lakeland since January of 2020, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Thursday. The Mid Valley Spartans will be playing in front of their home fans against the Lakeland Chiefs at 7:00 p.m. Hopefully Mid Valley focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 21 on Monday.
The matchup between Mid Valley and Riverside hardly resembled the 26-25 effort from their previous meeting. Mid Valley came out on top in a nail-biter against Riverside and snuck past 60-57. The win was all the more spectacular given Mid Valley's disadvantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania basketball rankings (they are ranked 207th, while Riverside is ranked 67th).
It was another big night for Demaja Dunston, who scored 23 points along with seven assists and six steals. As a matter of fact, that's the most points he has scored all season. Kaleik Cook was another key contributor, scoring eight points along with ten rebounds.
Meanwhile, Lakeland unfortunately witnessed the end of their three-game winning streak on Thursday. They received a tough blow as they fell 65-47 to Holy Cross.
Even though the team lost, they still had their share of impressive performances. One of the most dominant came from Nathan Hunt, who scored 14 points along with five assists and five rebounds. Another player making a difference was Chase Rosenkrans, who scored 16 points.
Lakeland struggled to get the ball back on offense and finished the game with only four offensive rebounds. That's the fewest offensive rebounds they've managed all season.
The win makes it two in a row for Mid Valley and bumps their season record up to 8-5. As for Lakeland, they now have a losing record at 5-6.
Thursday's match is shaping up to be a scrappy contest: Mid Valley have been smashing the glass this season, having only averaged 23.2 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Lakeland struggles in that department as they've been averaging only 28.7 rebounds per game. Given Mid Valley's sizeable advantage in that area, Lakeland will need to find a way to close that gap.
Mid Valley was able to grind out a solid victory over Lakeland when the teams last played back in December of 2023, winning 52-39. Will Mid Valley repeat their success, or does Lakeland have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
