The Pioneer Diamondbacks will head out on the road to square off against the McAllen Bulldogs at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are coming into the game red-hot, with Pioneer sitting on four straight victories and McAllen on five.
Last Tuesday, Pioneer's game was all tied up 10-10 at the half, but luckily for them it didn't stay that way. They walked away with a 33-20 win over Pharr-San Juan-Alamo North. That's two games straight that Pioneer has won by exactly 13 points.
Pioneer's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Matthew Maldonado led the charge by scoring 11 points along with six rebounds and two steals. Maldonado hasn't dropped below two steals for three straight games. Another player making a difference was Julian Valdez, who scored five points along with six rebounds and three steals.
Meanwhile, McAllen slipped by McAllen Memorial 47-46 on Tuesday. The victory was all the more spectacular given McAllen's disadvantage in MaxPreps' Texas basketball rankings (they are ranked 350th, while McAllen Memorial is ranked 167th).
McAllen's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Jackson Ramirez, who scored 16 points. The team also got some help courtesy of D'aundre Canada, who scored ten points along with six rebounds.
Pioneer pushed their record up to 16-10 with that win, which was their fourth straight at home. As for McAllen, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won eight of their last nine matches, which provided a nice bump to their 19-8 record this season.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as the two teams are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Pioneer hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having only averaged 51.2 points per game. However, it's not like McAllen struggles in that department as they've been averaging only 57.4 points per game. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Pioneer came up short against McAllen in their previous matchup back in December of 2023, falling 56-45. Can Pioneer avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
