The Thunderbird Titans lost against the Mesquite Wildcats back in February, and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Friday. Thunderbird took a 63-48 bruising from Mesquite. The loss unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for Thunderbird in their matchups with Mesquite: they've now lost four in a row.
Thunderbird lost despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Paris Strozier jr, who scored 13 points. The contest was Strozier jr's third in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Will Clark, who scored eight points along with six rebounds and three steals.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Mesquite to victory, but perhaps none more so than Christian Garven, who scored 22 points along with six rebounds. The game was Garven's ninth in a row with at least ten points. Desean Middlebrook was another key contributor, scoring 18 points.
Thunderbird's loss dropped their record down to 11-4. As for Mesquite, they are on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine matches, which provided a nice bump to their 12-3 record this season.
Both teams are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Thunderbird will get a bit of extra time to process the loss as their next game is a ways off. They'll take on Shadow Mountain at 7:00 p.m. on January 10, 2024. Shadow Mountain will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Arizona Rankings (they are ranked 299th, while Thunderbird is ranked 58th). Mesquite and Saguaro will face off at 7:00 p.m. on January 5, 2024 without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. The teams are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Saguaro has struggled recently with four defeats in a row, while Mesquite will arrive with three straight wins.
