Thunderbird is 0-3 against Paradise Honors since January of 2023 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The Thunderbird Titans will be playing at home against the Paradise Honors Panthers at 7:00 p.m. Thunderbird will stroll in with a 11 game home winning streak, but they should still watch out: the last time they lost at home was their January 12 matchup with Paradise Honors.
Last Tuesday, Thunderbird was able to grind out a solid win over Shadow Mountain, taking the game 54-47. Given Thunderbird's advantage in MaxPreps' Arizona basketball rankings (they are ranked 59th, while Shadow Mountain is ranked 263rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Ryan Calcaterra was his usual excellent self, dropping a double-double on 14 points and ten rebounds. He hasn't dropped below eight rebounds for three straight games. Another player making a difference was Kellen Braddix, who scored 13 points along with three steals.
Meanwhile, Paradise Honors put the finishing touches on their seventh blowout victory of the season on Tuesday. They really took it to Yuma for the full four quarters, racking up a 63-32 victory at home. The contest was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 38-18.
Paradise Honors' success was spearheaded by the efforts of Christian Dubrey, who scored 16 points along with six rebounds, and Tj Harris, who scored 18 points along with five assists and three steals. Harris has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last 19 times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Antwan Gilkey, who scored eight points along with six rebounds.
Thunderbird has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 16-5 record this season. As for Paradise Honors, their win bumped their record up to 13-9.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as the pair are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Thunderbird hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 59.9 points per game. However, it's not like Paradise Honors struggles in that department as they've been averaging 60.1 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.
Thunderbird came up short against Paradise Honors in their previous meeting two weeks ago, falling 45-39. Will Thunderbird have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other basketball content.
