Two dominant guards in Braden Bennett and Julian Stadelman are getting ready to go toe-to-toe. The River Valley Raiders and the Warren Warriors will compete for holiday cheer at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday. River Valley has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the match with five straight defeats, while Warren will come in with three straight victories.
Last Tuesday, River Valley came up short against Wellston and fell 59-51. That's two games in a row now that the Raiders have lost by exactly eight points.
Braden Bennett
| 12/17/24 vs Wellston | 4 |
| 01/26/24 vs Alexander | 3 |
| 12/29/23 @ Oak Hill | 3 |
| 12/03/24 @ Southern | 2 |
| 11/29/24 @ Eastern | 2 |
River Valley's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Bennett, who went 7 for 16 on his way to 17 points in addition to five boards and four steals, and Jansyn Smith, who posted 14 points. The dominant performance gave Bennett a new career-high in steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Landon Burns, who had 12 points and eight rebounds.
Even though they lost, River Valley smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 13 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in seven consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, Warren won against Point Pleasant last Tuesday with 67 points and they decided to stick to that point total again on Friday. Everything went Warren's way against Williamstown as Warren made off with a 67-46 win.
Warren's victory was their fifth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 4-1. The wins came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 65.8 points per game. As for River Valley, their defeat dropped their record down to 1-6.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
